(Continued from Previous post)
Forbes Top New Year Resolutions in My Age Group
Did you make New Year Resolutions? Did you start working on them?
I stumbled upon this Forbes article that identifies the top 14 New Year Resolutions by age group for 2023. I am piggybacking off this article and writing about how I am incorporating these healthy resolutions into my own life.
Here are the top 14 resolutions in my age category (can you guess my age?):
14 – Perform better at work
13 – Make time for hobbies
12 – Travel more
11 – Drink less alcohol
10 – Meditate regularly
9 – Improve work-life balance
8 – Learn a new skill
7 – Stop smoking
6 – Make more time for loved ones
5 – Improve fitness
4 – Improve finances
3 – Improve diet
2 – Improve mental health
1 – Lose weight
#10 – Meditate Regularly
Why meditate? Here are just a few good reasons:
– reduces stress and anxiety
– improves mental health
– helps with pain management
– decreases blood pressure
– enhances self awareness
– improves attention span
– slows down age-related cognitive decline
– helps control addictions
– improves sleep
Despite my more than 20 year yoga practice, meditation never came easy to me. Sitting still while clearing my mind of all thoughts is an extremely challenging task. Thoughts have a nasty way of finding their way into my head to ensure the stress level never drops. Whether it’s the dinner that needs to be prepared, the issue at work, the sick family member, or the teachers calling about children’s unfinished homework, the mind is an expert at hoarding problems big and small.
Not too long ago, while dealing with a digestive issue that, according to doctors, is supposedly caused by the body’s stress response, I discovered hypnotherapy.
Even though I always considered my mental health to be in top notch shape, apparently my body didn’t agree. When the mind constantly races with thoughts and worries, the body can see this as fight or flight, causing the activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the shut down of the parasympathetic nervous system.
Even though it’s not a yogic style meditation, hypnosis can do wonders for the mind and body. It helped me tremendously so I highly recommended you give it a try. There are tons of free sessions on YouTube as well as apps and paid programs that target specific issues from physical and mental health, to insomnia, to business success, to better self-image, to any topic you can fathom in your head. I enjoy the sessions so much that I play them every night before falling asleep.
Hope your enjoy your meditation and hypnosis!
#9 – Improve Work-Life Balance
When I picked public accounting as my major in college, never did I suspect the horrendous number of hours that the career entails. I assumed the 3 month “busy season” required 11 hour days and the rest of the year was the normal 8 hour work day. I was super excited to have landed a job at one of the Big Four CPA firms and was convinced that I was on my way to climbing the corporate ladder.
Boy, was I unpleasantly surprised when I walked in the door of Deloitte and Touché in October 2003. I realized very quickly that 8 hour work days are just a dream. Walking out before 8 PM during regular season and 11 PM during busy season branded me as not being a team player. Putting in weekends was also an expectation.
I was miserable, exhausted, and depressed. I hated every single day I had to go to work. I missed fresh air, sunshine, and exercise.
After I completed the minimum billable hours required for my CPA license, I began looking for another job. I searched and I searched and I came to the conclusion that if I stay in the corporate world, I will turn into a workaholic, dedicating my entire existence to the company I work for.
I was desperate. My physical health was on the decline. I was afraid that if I were to continue, I would end up in the hospital.
I made a decision and called MTA, where I had interned while in college. I was given an offer, which I quickly accepted. I took a pretty hefty pay-cut but got great hours and great benefits in return. 17 years later, I am still there.
I often wonder where I could have been had I accepted the alternate prestigious offer that I got from a small investment bank. Would I be a high level manager or executive? Then, I always remind myself at what cost. I had the joy of working a part-time schedule for 7 years, giving me enough time to spend with my kids. I doubt I would ever have that luxury in the investment bank.
Now, however, I am ready for another change. Most of the business world adjusted to allow flexible, hybrid, and remote options while the MTA has not. I spend 15 hours a week on the train commuting, which is no laughing matter.
Rather than leave MTA and go to another corporate job, I decided to become an entrepreneur and build my own business. I always dreamed about pursuing health and wellness. The opportunity presented itself and I grabbed it. For now, I am working two jobs, my full time job at MTA as well as my business in the spare hours I have when I’m not committed to MTA.
Where is the work life balance in that? The short answer is that helping people feel better, younger, stronger, and fitter makes me happy. When you do a job that makes you happy, it turns into a hobby. My goal is to scale my business to a place where it can replace my MTA income. Then I can work flexible hours from home doing what I love.
What is your passion? What would you be doing if you were to start over? Let me know in the comments!
I wish everyone to find their passion and pursue it in 2023!
#8 – Learn A New Skill
As babies and toddlers, we have an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Everything we touch, taste, hear, see, and feel gives us new insights into the amazing world that we recently were brought into.
Once we enter school, however, our excitement slowly turns to “I don’t want to do this.” The recent unrealistic education expectations placed on children as young as 4 and 5 years old would be considered absurd even a generation ago. Numerous scientific studies show that not all children mature at the same rate and that forcing too much information on children that are not mentally mature to understand it can turn their burning flame to learn into a full blown rebellion.
Throughout my school years I learned what was required by the NYC Board of Education. I was a “goody-goody” student, always the teacher’s favourite. I studied hard, did all my homework, and never misbehaved, yet, all with zero enthusiasm.
In college, I had a little more freedom to choose. I already knew that I loved health and fitness but becoming a personal trainer didn’t seem like a good safe career path at the time. I wasn’t sure what it is I wanted to do with my life so I picked public accounting, the best profession offered at my University. I spent the next 5 years working towards my BBA, MBA, and CPA.
Once out of college, it was finally time to party and celebrate. I worked super hard in public accounting with little time left to do much else except for periodically spend some time hanging out with friends.
Then came marriage and a baby carriage. OMG – what did I get myself into? Having never spent much time around babies, the next 5 – 10 years were dedicated to learning how to be a good parent.
Finally, once kids become a little more independent, giving me a little more time to explore myself, I remembered how much fun learning can be!
I realized I love learning yogic philosophy, behavioural psychology and human relationships, nutrition, and cooking among many other things! I started reading as much as I could on all these topics.
In 2021, I learned how to build this hiking blog in WordPress!
In 2022, I learned about being an entrepreneur and how to use social media (better than my kids)!
In 2023, I’m already enrolled in an exciting online course!
Be a kid again and never stop learning! What do you want to learn this year?
#7 – Stop Smoking
Not much to write here as I do not smoke, never smoked, nor ever plan to smoke. We all know the negative impacts of smoking both to the smoker and to those inhaling the smoke second-hand.
As a teenager, I remember having to put up with cigarette smoke at every venue then coming home with everything from my hair to my underwear stinking like cigarettes. It was disgusting and very difficult to wash the smell away.
Luckily, smoking lost its momentum after what I think were two very significant actions: the federal government levying an excessive excise tax on cigarette purchases and many states placing restrictions on cigarette smoking in public places.
Most of my friends either quit smoking or cut it down to social smoking only.
Thus, I was pretty surprised to see that the Forbes New Year Resolution survey picked up “stop smoking” as top # 8 while something like “get adequate sleep” was not picked up at all.
On top of that, I am highly disturbed by the new vaping trend. Aside from the fact that e-cigarettes or EVALI are free of the nasty traditional cigarette stink, they cause a tremendous amount of damage to both the person vaping and the people inhaling the vape second-hand, including cancer, organ damage, lung scarring, asthma, headaches, coughing, shortness of breath, irritated eyes, mouth, and throat, and nausea.
There are so many healthy habits one can adopt instead. May I suggest yoga, hiking, or simply walking?
