Happy New Year!

Happy happy new year to you and your friends and families!

It’s the time of year for New Year’s Resolutions.  For the past week or so, I’ve been thinking about resolutions I want to set for myself.  But then I saw a post on Facebook that said something to the effect of, “Set Goals, not Resolutions.”  I have to say, I agree wholeheartedly.

I said in my last post that I am starting a new Beachbody workout program, and also following a Yoga By Candace 30 day program.  The Beachbody program arrived on Thursday, and I am so excited to get started.  I think I’m going to do a small test run tomorrow, just to see what the program is like.  Monday will be the real start of the 60-day program. My goal for that program is to tone and define muscles in my upper body, specifically, in my arms.  I’ll be documenting the progress in that as well, but saving the photos for the end of the program, for a big reveal!

And the Yoga By Candace program, I actually will be making a slight modification.  She must have read my mind, because she released a “New Year, New You” type of program, which started today!  This is meant as a way for beginners like me to establish my practice, and for those who are more advanced to deepen their practice.  I decided that I will still focus on a hip opening pose for the month, so I get the best of both worlds.  One of the steps in the process is to post a “before” photo if you chose to focus on a pose.

My forward fold needs a little work. This is actually rag doll pose, since my hands aren’t on the ground.  For as long as I can remember, I have had a problem with tight hamstrings, hips and lower back.  I pulled my hip flexor in college because of it.  Basically, in my back, two of the bones (not disks) are out of alignment.  Some of us are just put together that way.  It just means that the muscles in my back work harder to make sure that bones don’t completely come out of alignment.  If I hadn’t been a rower AND running in college, I wouldn’t have ever really a problem.  But one day, during Spring Break, training every day, I was running home from a long practice, and by the end of the run (uphill), I had excruciating pain from my hip up my back and down my leg.  I went to a sports doctor and found out I have slight scoliosis (from rowing), and that two bones are just very slightly out of alignment. He told me that I could row, or I could run, but I can’t do both.  And that I need to strengthen my core, otherwise pulled hip flexors and strained back muscles will happen all the time.  Anyways, my goal for the end of this program is to have straight legs and my hands flat on the ground.

I have a couple of other goals as well, in business and life!  I’ll list a couple of them here!

• Double my earnings in my photography business
• Read 30 books!
• Earn a steady income from my essential oil business
• FINALLY get my first tattoo!
• Figure out my digestive issues and maintain a consistent eating plan

So tell me, what are your goals for this year?