Happy New Year! (okay, I know I'm a few days late). As I was thinking about the new year and the new year resolutions, I have a few thoughts I would like to share.
How many times do we make new year resolutions and expect to fail. If it lasts a week or a month then that's great. Maybe I'm only talking about myself, but the last couple of years I didn't even have any resolutions because then I didn't have to make an effort or fail. It can seem impossibly hard to break bad habits and make positive changes.
As the new year was approaching I realized that I have to work on breaking those bad habits. Some of you know me well enough to know how much I love sweets, cookies, candy, cakes. Well, as the ship was celebrating Christmas for the month of December there was an ample supply of such yummy treats. I don't even want to admit this, but soon I found that is all I would eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
At first I was fine, then I didn't have any energy and felt so slow and groggy all day. Finally, I came to the conclusion this was bad for me in so many ways. When I was struggling a couple months ago I was eating poorly and making bad choices like staying in the dark because it took to much energy to go outside. I finally started making it out side, and since then I have been out for at least 30 minutes almost every day since. That has helped a lot, but that didn't address my poor eating habits.
Around Christmas time when I'm sure that I was sick from all the sugar I was eating I made a choice. A choice to start eating better on the ship, making sure that I have protein in at least one meal, and not just eating carbohydrates. Also, I don't have to have multiple pieces of cinnamon-sugar toast at every meal, or buy M&M's to eat as a snack every night because I need chocolate.
As I'm writing this, I cringe to even think about it. I know better but didn't have or want to have the strength to resist. Yes you could say my new years resolution is to start eating better. It's not an easy change to make, but I have been making an effort. Last week I experimented with making granola in the crew kitchen and it was actually really good. I keep grabbing handfuls and snacking on that. It's a much healthier snack than M&M's.
The temptation is great, but as I was reading through Hebrews I came across these verses.
"Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight the paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed." Hebrew 12: 12-13 (ESV)
Lets just say that when I read that verse it left a very deep impression. It's been weeks ago that I read it, but still have not forgotten it. It has encouraged me to keep working at making those positive changes. I knew that I had to be the one that wanted those changes, but this verse inspired me to actually do the work required.
Those M&M's still temp me everyday, and I walk by them multiple times during the course of a single day. I can't say that I've been perfect every day, or that my goal is to eliminate all sugar from my diet. My goal is to make healthier choices with everything in moderation. I'm taking one day at a time, that seems a lot more manageable and realistic than having to think about it for the whole year. The days add up to weeks, then months,and months turn into years.
How many times do we make new year resolutions and expect to fail. If it lasts a week or a month then that's great. Maybe I'm only talking about myself, but the last couple of years I didn't even have any resolutions because then I didn't have to make an effort or fail. It can seem impossibly hard to break bad habits and make positive changes.
As the new year was approaching I realized that I have to work on breaking those bad habits. Some of you know me well enough to know how much I love sweets, cookies, candy, cakes. Well, as the ship was celebrating Christmas for the month of December there was an ample supply of such yummy treats. I don't even want to admit this, but soon I found that is all I would eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
At first I was fine, then I didn't have any energy and felt so slow and groggy all day. Finally, I came to the conclusion this was bad for me in so many ways. When I was struggling a couple months ago I was eating poorly and making bad choices like staying in the dark because it took to much energy to go outside. I finally started making it out side, and since then I have been out for at least 30 minutes almost every day since. That has helped a lot, but that didn't address my poor eating habits.
Around Christmas time when I'm sure that I was sick from all the sugar I was eating I made a choice. A choice to start eating better on the ship, making sure that I have protein in at least one meal, and not just eating carbohydrates. Also, I don't have to have multiple pieces of cinnamon-sugar toast at every meal, or buy M&M's to eat as a snack every night because I need chocolate.
As I'm writing this, I cringe to even think about it. I know better but didn't have or want to have the strength to resist. Yes you could say my new years resolution is to start eating better. It's not an easy change to make, but I have been making an effort. Last week I experimented with making granola in the crew kitchen and it was actually really good. I keep grabbing handfuls and snacking on that. It's a much healthier snack than M&M's.
The temptation is great, but as I was reading through Hebrews I came across these verses.
"Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight the paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed." Hebrew 12: 12-13 (ESV)
Lets just say that when I read that verse it left a very deep impression. It's been weeks ago that I read it, but still have not forgotten it. It has encouraged me to keep working at making those positive changes. I knew that I had to be the one that wanted those changes, but this verse inspired me to actually do the work required.
Those M&M's still temp me everyday, and I walk by them multiple times during the course of a single day. I can't say that I've been perfect every day, or that my goal is to eliminate all sugar from my diet. My goal is to make healthier choices with everything in moderation. I'm taking one day at a time, that seems a lot more manageable and realistic than having to think about it for the whole year. The days add up to weeks, then months,and months turn into years.
