Hello 2012!

Hello my dear readers! If there are  any of you still left!

I hope you all had a positively fabulous time this holiday season! Like most people I've reflected on the past year and resolved to do some things differently this year!

I think it's safe to say that this past year has been a life-changing year to say the very least; going from thinking and generally feeling like I was perfectly normal to getting sick over the summer and then finding out I have an incurable genetic disease that will bring degenerative changes, as well as a most likely permanent autonomic nervous system, was quite a shift in my perception of who I am and what my future holds. I went from being a conscientious student to being a patient...I've decided to take this spring semester off as well...

Well, this year I'm starting things off in Pensacola, FL taking care of my adorable three-year-old niece Annika for about a month and then who knows? I do know that I need to quit wallowing in my physical and mental pain and get on with things. The only thing I have planned beyond nannying is going back to school in the fall. I would like to take a true vacation where I can totally relax and not worry about doctors appointments, responsibilities, or feeling guilty if all I want to do is lounge around and read books!

I've also made some resolutions like so many other people!

1. Blog at least twice a week
2. Do physical therapy exercises every day.
3. Follow doctor's orders: my new high sodium diet and other lifestyle changes for my POTS
4. Live instead of exist!
5. Journal every day.
6. Get to a more comfortable weight.

Now here are my questions to you, my dear readers: What have you learned this past year and what do you plan to do this new year? Have you resolved to do things differently? If so, what? How will you keep your resolutions?

Hope to hear from you soon!! 

That's all for now folks! Keep reading! 

-RRR

Christmas is over...time for New Year's Resolutions!

Americans don't like to linger; we are constantly moving forward, for the better or worse I'm not sure, but the fact of the matter is that Americans live in a fast-paced society. The second Halloween is over we break out the Thanksgiving decorations; the second Thanksgiving is over up go the Christmas decorations. Well now that Christmas is over and people are realizing the depth of their overindulgence or  perhaps pondering on what they want to do differently, out come the pens and paper to start New Year's resolutions (NYRs)

I for one am a huge fan of NYRs...I like the feeling of hope and optimism that always seems to accompany a brand new year and a list full of resolutions. As the New Year approaches and I think about all the things I want to change and the ways in which I want to improve myself I can't help but wonder how many of those NYRs will last. As I trolled the internet for studies and facts to help me on my journey to a good and realistic NYR list I stumbled across this article from Psychology Today: NYR Success. It was fairly enlightening. But then I saw this article: Don't Make NYRs about how making NYRs is bad for your health: they add pressure and stress and they aren't conducive to long-term change. I have to agree with the author's argument. Just as strict dieting eventually leads to overeating making NYRs eventually leads to breaking NYRs. 

But even though I agree whole-heartedly with the author I can't help myself; I need to make that list and check it twice, punish myself for being naughty not nice....I'm a perfectionist in every sense of the word. So despite the inefficacy of resolutions, I shall make them again this year, and probably every year and I will try valiantly to keep all of them until I inevitably crash and burn and eat that pint of Ben&Jerry's...my inevitable failure will not deter me! I will relish the challenge. 

That's all for now folks!

Keep reading and commenting!

-RRR