This year went by so fast I barely thought much about goals until October hit me face on with birthdays, Halloween, Christmas and New Year Eve!
Last year, after I received the gift of arts & crafts, I started card making, jewelry making, mix media arts etc. AND for the first time in my life, I became a shopaholic in paper crafts… but I also opened 2 Etsy stores that is growing and building reputation.
Paper Storage Solution
I also got back online: starting with Facebook and Twitter. I haven’t been active on Twitter until September of last year (3-4 months ago) and decided to commit myself to tweeting everyday and watched my followers grow from in the 50s to over 163 unique followers. It isn’t much but my Klout score also gone up to let me know how I’ve been doing.. The growth of socializing on these sites led to people finding me and viewing my websites. I’ve got @dennispang, @kcclaveria, @susanjarema and @artfire to thank for providing me with info on social media and SEO. Please follow them or visit their website.
Social Media Influences
Although social media play a key role in the development of my online presence, I must not forget why I got back online in the first place. To digress a bit, one of the reasons why I left social media was because I did not want to sit in front of a computer all day long chatting on cyber space. My life revolves around the people I love and if I stare more into a computer than those around me, I think there’s something wrong. If I sit more than being more active then I’m not fulfilling my goal to be healthy. There’s also a pressure of fulfilling what others expect of you like updating them with your every moment and activities you’re involved with. That shouldn’t dictate my life.
Hence in writing this review, I began to think more about the important things to focus on this year, EVERY year or New Year’s Resolutions (if you want to call it that):
Health: Last year, my mental health improved drastically. I thought I was already a pretty healthy individual – A yoga instructor, practice Ahimsa (non-harming) and have friends and family in my life. After a drastic event that occurred middle of 2009, my mental health was in a state of turmoil. Thankfully, that was short lived and my mental strength pulled together and I have never been more healthy mentally. However, I must say with the changes, my physical health ie) immune system has not been the best. I’ve caught more viruses and colds than I have in years and that bothers me a bit. Hence, this year, I will commit to improving my immune system through more regulated cardio and super foods.
"I'm too busy..."
Another aspect of health people tend to forget, ignore or out right make excuses for is getting into an unhealthy routine. Because work gets in the way and we tend to grab the nearest and most convenient to eat food around us, it tends to be the unhealthiest choice for our bodies. More importantly still, when we’re in a hurry to eat or not think about what we’re eating, the chance of over eating increases. For me, with the recent changes of my work and sleep pattern, I’ll need to monitor my eating habits more closely. Physically healthy is one thing but knowing how your metabolism works, your stress levels and understanding your dosha will become extremely important. Especially as you get older and your metabolism slows down. Saying that you’re fat and you need to lose weight does NOT help.
I need to lose weight!
Ironically, as I’m writing this blog, I’m hacking out phlegm from a nasty virus I caught on NYE. Go figure. Sometimes the body wouldn’t let you get sick until your deadline is over and then it’ll turn up the heat and make you suffer physically for it. It’s funny how the body is so freaky smart like that.
The lesson?
Regardless of how important you think your deadlines are and who you think you need to please at the moment, your body will slow you down if it feels like you’re abusing it. The most common indicator is getting physically sick but there are other factors like gaining weight (cortisol levels go up) or having fate stop you from your “routine”.
In other words, listen to your body and stop letting external influences play the key factor in achieving optimal health. If you’re not healthy, you can’t possibly be happy. And when you’re not happy, you can’t possibly influence anyone around you to be happy.
With compassion as always, have a happy new year.
