2024 Goal Setting
The New Year is upon us and the focus on social media is all about resolutions and setting up those big goals for 2024 so that you have a clear picture of what you want to accomplish this year. A benchmark to measure your success or failure at the end of the year. Not to discourage you, but the truth is, only a small percentage of people each year keep their resolutions so what we are really setting ourselves up for is not this huge win at the end of the year, but for feeling disappointed. Instead, how about we try to be just a little bit better each month.
We can all benefit from trying to live a healthier lifestyle. This is even truer for cancer survivors. What research has found is that there are six pillars to healthier lifestyle, an anti-cancer lifestyle. These pillars include exercise, community, stress, sleep, diet, and environment. Want to learn more? Check out more from the groundbreaking book, Anti-Cancer Living, Transform Your Life and Health with the Mix of Six by Lorenzo Cohen PhD and Alison Jeffries MEd, or the Anti-Cancer Lifestyle Program here.
Since long term habits are so hard to accomplish, resolutions are so easy to break, and big changes are so hard to make, I thought, why not start small. Why not focus on one pillar each month for six months, and then start over again the following six months. The goal at the end of the month is not to make a big gain, but to make a small incremental improvement that is easy to maintain. Now full disclosure here, I am not a doctor, a physical therapist, or personal trainer. This is simply my idea for how I am going to approach things in a way that is doable for me. Please, please, please, before starting any new health or wellness program, discuss it with your doctor and health care team first.
For January, since so much of the media focus is on exercise, losing weight and getting in shape. I thought I would start there, but not exercise and weight loss, just simple movement. Consider trying this. If you currently use a Fitbit or some other type of health tracking device, how about starting with a goal of simply increasing your steps by the end of the month. On a smaller scale, I personally like looking at weeks not days, because some days are just too full, or we are just too fatigued to get a lot of steps in. Take me, I may be able to do a moderate hike today, but tomorrow and maybe even the next day, I may need to rest more, reducing my steps on those days. So I am going to look at a weekly benchmark and try to increase my steps each week. And it doesn’t have to be thousands of steps increase, maybe it is only 100, or 50, or even 25. Any increase is a win. And a win gives us motivation to keep going and lets us know that improvement is doable.
I also like other movement activities and have practiced Qi Gong on and off for several years. It has helped with my energy, flexibility, and balance so I am going to try to incorporate that into my week, even if it’s only once a week, to try and make it a regular practice again. Simple goals, increase what I am doing by just a little. Hopefully a win at the end of the month.
Now if you’re a little more ambitious, there are free exercise and fitness programs out there for cancer survivors. Live Strong at the YMCA conducts in person classes. You can check here to see if there is a program near you locally. Virtually, you can find resources about cancer survivorship and fitness from the Anti-Cancer Lifestyle Program here.
So who is in with me? Who is willing to take a step into a healthier lifestyle and try and move just a little bit more by the end of the month?