Reasonable Resolutions for 2025

Moving in the (mostly) right direction

As a procrastinator, I almost never have New Year’s resolutions pulled together by the date itself. I’m still caught up in the aftermath of Christmas—celebrations that extend beyond the 25^th, the cards that (still) wait patiently to be addressed, the boxes that must be restored to their rightful positions in the box resource center (AKA the basement).

I was feeling good about my January plan for anti-inflammatory food and daily writing when my trainer asked me a reasonable question that caught me off-guard, “What are you going to give up?”

Wait. What?

She pointed out that it would require time to fulfill these new commitments, something I had only vaguely considered.

“Social media!” I said immediately.

And then I found myself pondering the intertwining relationship between the time I have—and how I allocate that time across what I have to do, what I want to do, and what I find myself doing by default.

Fellow Substacker

Mikala Jamison

recently asked this question: “How much do I care about changing anything about my body and my habits, considering what I’ll sacrifice and what I’ll gain?”

This is an excellent question, especially if you, like me, have faced an onslaught of recommendations for what you should be doing as a perimenopausal / menopausal woman. If I followed all the recommendations, I’d wake up and within the first 30 minutes of my day I would have gotten myself outside for a walk / run / beach yoga session, eaten 30 grams of protein, drank two glasses of water, and not even considered picking up my phone or a cup of coffee.

That’s just…not my life.

After lots of consideration, here’s what I’ve decided I can (and should) do:

Drink a big glass of water before my second cup of coffee.

I can’t start my day with water, because I don’t like waking up and coffee makes waking up worthwhile. But I can drink a glass of water after my first cup, which also makes it more likely I’ll get out of bed and less likely I’ll be caught on my phone.

Water after coffee - and before the next coffee (which won't have sugar the rest of the month)

Get nine hours of sleep.

This past holiday has made clear that’s what my body needs. The easiest way to do this is going to sleep by 10 pm—so I’ve changed my phone’s active hours to end at 9 pm. When I don’t get nine hours of sleep, I’ll make time for a nap. Guilt-free. Because nine hours of sleep is what my body needs.

No social media the first (or last) hour of my day.

Nothing else as consistently gets in the way of me going to sleep or getting out of bed or really doing anything that is productive or even relaxing.

Hanging out and scrolling with Evelyn

Move daily.

Two 30-minute Zoom sessions with my trainer, two Peloton workouts (at least one of them a ride), one long walk per week. And whatever else I can fit in for the last two days, even if it’s just walking stairs between meetings. Any movement counts. Some is better than none.

Maintain my daily smoothie.

Mine has yogurt, kefir, fruit, and veggie mash (a mix of about a dozen raw vegetables we don’t usually eat): protein, fiber, probiotics, and biodiversity—all good things. I know someone out there is thinking, “You should just do eggs!” Ok, so I did try that, but it turns out that I don’t love eggs, and trying to eat them daily makes me hate them AND hate myself. I decided I can stay protein-conscious while letting myself off the 30-grams-of-protein-in-the-morning hook. #chickensnack

Yes, we even made smoothies in our hotel room in Auburn

Write daily.

I booked virtual writing appointments three times a week with mentor coach

Christine Wolf

to make this more likely to happen. Some of these are during working hours, and I have decided that is OK, especially since cancer connects my personal and work life so closely. They start tomorrow (eek!)

How It’s Going So Far:

Admittedly, we’re just a few days into the year, but it feels like this might be the right path. I’m getting more sleep, drinking more water, increasing daily steps and decreasing screen time. And the process of writing has me thinking like a writer again—actively processing as I construct paragraphs in my head. Most of these won’t make it onto the page, but the habit is forcing me to be more present of how I am moving through my day.

Not to say the path is without a few detours: this weekend we took the kids to Sturgeon Bay to do some shopping (moving!)—but we left after brunch, skipped lunch, and forgot to pack Whole30ish snacks. By the time we got back home I was a Momster. One of the kids made the mistake of getting in the way of my hummus, asserting that they were also very hungry (despite having had a mint mocha and also eaten half a bag of veggie straws one at a time, SO VERY LOUDLY, on the way home), and I almost lost my mind. And by “almost” I mean “most definitely.”

That cleared the way for me to eat some Loring Place hummus with veggies and sit back down at my laptop. Per is making dinner. I may take a little nap. And we’ll all push forward into 2025.*

* But they did not push forward. They went to bed super crabby (and by “they” I mean “I”).

But I woke up to coffee, and a big glass of water, and a 10-minute Core class (WHICH COUNTS AS MOVING), and another coffee. Then I spent a few hours surprisingly un-crabby, cleaning the cottage (which should definitely also count as moving) before another few hours spent driving home / sitting in traffic. At least we had snacks this time—Susanna’s delicious fudge babies.

I was exhausted by Sunday night, but I still wrote this postscript before going to bed, so I should probably get a star for that, and maybe a whole star chart to keep me going, because I’m now one day back into work, and I forgot my lunch again, and I’m realizing even these “reasonable” commitments are going to give me a run for my money.

ChatGPT Thai chicken skewers with G+TG green beans - full meal plan coming soon by special request