Happy New Year! A fresh new year is always a good “restart” time if you’ve fallen behind on some of your goals, or it’s the perfect time to launch new ones. Having goals is one thing; working toward them (and hitting them!) is another. It doesn’t happen automatically on January 1st – it takes time and practice to establish better habits. Your health is so similar. Time and practice. Consistency. Keep on keeping on! It’s hard to make meaningful, significant life shifts that feel clunky or strange at first. But you don’t have to do it alone, and you can start with a few small changes to support your efforts. Here are a few ideas to get started. Go hi-tech In today’s hi-tech world, you have access to all kinds of tools to support your goals, no matter what they are. Use tech to your advantage to organize, track, and simplify what is most important in helping you reach your goals. Want to improve your health and happiness? Check out Headspace. This app offers a way to check your state of mind. It provides guided meditations, articles, videos, and more – all with the goal of keeping you calm, cool, and collected. My Fitness Pal offers great ways to track a physically healthier lifestyle. It has a huge database of food items so you can identify what you eat and how many calories you are consuming, then match that up with your activity/exercise. Mint is a great app to see all of your finances in one place. It connects to your accounts and helps you track toward a budget. It also sends alerts when you have bills coming due. Mealboard is a meal planning app that does everything but cooks the meal! It has a calendar for planning, store recipes, make a grocery list, and even track your pantry items. OurHome keeps track of all the chores and tasks that make your household run! This app syncs calendars and rewards kids for completing tasks (it also has a great grocery list component)! Be flexible Who says you have to start your new year’s resolution on January 1? No one. Start when you’re ready, whether it’s January 3rd or the middle of May. Be sure you’re committed to the goal and you know what you need to do to reach it. Your goal may change as well, and that’s ok! You may have been a little over-aggressive when setting goals, so give yourself the allowance to update it. Or, setbacks can happen just when you are really getting ready to crush it. Life happens! Regroup and adjust your goals so they are realistic and set you up for success. Schedule regular massage (you had to know that was coming) Massage is known to lower stress, alleviate pain, prevent and speed recovery from injury, and improve the quality of sleep. Think about it: are you more likely to reach your goals if you’ve got less stress, are physically healthy, and are sleeping well? (not to mention are you easier to live with!) Getting a regular massage can mean weekly, monthly, or quarterly – everyone is different. But stick to it, just like all good habits. After you get a massage, always get your next appointment on the calendar. Do it! You can call me to book or if you have questions, (317-223-1639) or schedule online here to get started. (you had to know that was coming) Massage is known to lower stress, alleviate pain, prevent and speed recovery from injury, and improve the quality of sleep. Think about it: are you more likely to reach your goals if you’ve got less stress, are physically healthy, and are sleeping well? (not to mention are you easier to live with!) Getting a regular massage can mean weekly, monthly, or quarterly – everyone is different. But stick to it, just like all good habits. After you get a massage, always get your next appointment on the calendar. Do it! You can call me to book or if you have questions, (317-223-1639) or schedule online here to get started.