Taking Care This Year

As soon as the countdown begins, 10-9-8…I am ready to welcome in the new year! No matter what happened in the previous 12 months, there’s always so much to look forward to!  Day One begins with watching the Tournament of Roses Parade from the comfort of a recliner with hot coffee in hand. All the pomp and circumstance never fail to leave me feeling upbeat. Next a 5-mile hike in the Santa Monica Mountains with Robert and Kippers invigorates my body and soul. It doesn’t matter how many times we travel those trails, I’m always in awe of the natural beauty that surrounds us. The balance of the day is spent lazing around noshing on deviled eggs, veggies and beet hummus, and any other leftovers from the night before. Though not die-hard football fans, early afternoon we’ll tune into the Rose Bowl game. It’s always an easy day and a great way to begin a new chapter. Like my monthly Quest for Calm activities of last year, this time around, I’ll focus on a Year of Self-Care! Each month I will embark on an experience that I hope will enrich my life in a positive way. Before getting to January’s activity, I’ll tell you about December’s Quest for Calm.

Last month, I chose to try my hand at reflective rock painting. Easy, quick, and fun, I found this to be a great way to relax. My outdoor Zen Garden is filled with rocks and stones, big and small, and in all hues and shapes possible. That’s where I found smooth smallish stones to experiment with first. Without thinking too much, I simply reached for my acrylics and began putting paint to rock. I brushed some stones in a color and then embellished them with different colored symbols, designs, and flourishes. Others I left au natural and just adorned with a word. Then I got a little more adventurous and decorated some with my markers, inks, and watercolor pencils. Very cool!  Our niece, Lily’s suggestion to use a 5-Piece 2 Way Nail Tip Dot Paint Manicure Kit was genius! Forming dots and patterns with these tools was easy peasy. Thanks again, Lily!

Painting rocks just about every day, I now have a colorful kaleidoscope in my collection. Some I will put back into my Zen Garden, others I will place around our neighborhood, and a few I’ll keep close by to have and to hold whenever I need to step back a moment and take a breather.

Now to this year’s journey. This one will take me back to basics. Back to myself.  Back to taking care of me. In its simplest terms, self-care involves caring for our physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual health. It’s all about recognizing what is needed in the present moment and tending to it. This takes awareness, effort, and practice. Well worth it though. The benefits lead to better overall health and a happier life. It’s especially important for anyone who takes care of others. Whether it be children, parents, family members, or friends, most of us are in relationships where we give care to others and the only way to be able to do that well is to take of ourselves first. So I’m excited to tell you about my first Self-Care venture of 2025! It starts in our home, in the very heart of it, specifically, in our kitchen. I’m beginning with food.

From my journal: October 1, 2016, Newbury Park, California

“Spent most of yesterday reading It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig…time to give this different way of eating a try…”

The first time I embarked on Whole 30, was a little over eight years ago. I had been feeling sluggish, and as I wrote in my journal, I was “dragging” and having “mood swings”. At the time I was aware that I had fallen into the habit of consuming a lot of carbs, like crackers, pasta, and bread. Anytime I was stressed out, those were my go-tos. I needed to reassess what I was eating and the Whole 30 program greatly helped. Since then, some things have changed about it. Now there are a huge amount of online resources available to support followers, as well as cookbooks written by various authors, including the co-founder of the program, Melissa Hartwig who now goes by Melissa Urban. What is the same is, its claim that it takes “a week to feel it, a month to see it, a lifetime to live it.”

I don’t like to call this a diet, as it makes me think of phrases like very restrictive, hard to maintain, and short-term. Instead, I prefer to call it a way of eating. Whole 30 is simply committing to eating whole foods for 30 days. Instead of focusing on what is not allowed like sugar, grains, and dairy, I prefer to think about all the nutritious veggies, fruits, lean proteins, seeds, and nuts that are allowed. And instead of thinking in terms of what I may lose (hopefully a few extra pounds!), I prefer to think of all that I may gain, renewed energy, better sleep, and feeling more centered. Like last year, I will record my experiences and will relay them to you at the start of each new month. And if you’re a Whole 30 fan, please share your thoughts on it as well.

Happy 2025 to you! Hope yours is off to a great start!  Here’s to a whole new year of fun discoveries, lots of laughter, and nourishing self-care!