2010 Word for the Year

Last year was the first year I chose a word for the year and I struggled a bit to come up with the right one. Since focusing on “Enough” was so successful last year, I gave thought earlier and had no trouble choosing the word for 2010 –

Health

This is my last year in my 40’s and since 2009 was a banner year for health problems (blown out knee, exploding teeth, LDL on the rise…), it’s time to concentrate on getting healthy. The obvious thing would be to lose weight but I’m not going to concentrate on that. I hope I do lose weight but don’t want something I’ve had such problems with have the potential to sabotage my broader efforts to get healthy. Here are some of my goals:

#1 – Eat healthier food– less processed food, more fruits and veggies, and just plain less! This will require lots of planning (I’ve had spurts of cooking on Sundays for the next week but it’s been sporadic) and a big effort on the fruit front (I rarely want fruit, unless it’s in a pie.) But I’m up for the task. I also plan to grow as much of my own food as possible since I’ll know exactly what went into it. That means I’ll be spending lots more time in my garden this year, as opposed to planting it and then forgetting about it so it becomes a weed pit with unpicked veggies rotting on the vine. So much for being a master gardener! More like a master procrastinator. But I digress….
#2 - Expand my exercise program. Now I’ve been doing water aerobics for years and love it but my body has gotten used to it and I’m not getting much out of it exercise wise. I’m going to ramp it up in the pool (water aerobics is all about how much effort you put into it and I’ve been just moving in water lately so it’s time to sweat!) I’m also going to explore other classes – more Power Pump with Annie – and start doing super circuit again. I’m hoping for 4 weekdays at the gym (Wednesday is my day off) and will do something to break a sweat on the weekends. Maybe I’ll get my bikes out once it warms up a bit.
#3 - Lastly, I’m going to be more pro-active on medical stuff. Now that vaccines are available, I’m going to get an H1N1 shot and I’ll schedule my mammogram. I’m sure I’ll come up with other ideas for this goal.

I’ve always been a goal oriented person. For years it was to buy a house, which morphed into moving to Nebraska. Both done. Then I got involved at the library and spent lots of time working toward getting the new library built. That goal, although not personal, replaced the house goal. Once the library was built, I was completely burned out and started backing off on library stuff, which I’ve successfully done and am down to just Treasurer of the Foundation and a member of the Friends. Now it’s time for a new goal and having given so much energy to the library for years, it’s time for a personal goal again. I did consider making getting healthy my next goal a few years ago but never did much about it. I did make some changes for the better but nothing as focused and coordinated as this. I figure that getting healthy will benefit every area of my life so it’s time. And if I can get a handle on my health, I’ll have lots more energy for my next goal. Any ideas?