Halloween is over and we are officially at the beginning of the holiday season.
Well, in my mind we are.
I kind of look at it like this photo a friend shared on his Facebook timeline:
As soon as Halloween is over, I go into Christmas mode.
Well, I guess that’s not totally true. I do love pumpkin everything and apple spice everything.
I took down the Halloween decorations, but left all the fall stuff up.
I took down the orange Halloween lights I have scattered throughout the house, and the white Christmas lights are going up in their place.
So I don’t completely ignore Thanksgiving. Because I do love Thanksgiving day and the weeks preceding it.
But along with this time of year comes some challenges, especially in the self-care and food department.
Most of those challenges, though are all mindset challenges.
For many of us, the combination of moving the clocks back and the shorter days and the change in the weather and the holiday season puts us into the mindset that exercise, discipline, and maintaining habits fly out the window until January.
I had that mindset at one time.
But not anymore.
For me, November and December are an opportunity for me to set myself up for success in the upcoming year.
It’s a time for me to establish new habits and solidify old ones.
Because the person I think about right now isn’t short-term, current Susie.
It’s Future Susie.
And Future Susie wants to be kicking some serious ass on January 1st.
If you’ve been around here a while, you know I like to run.
I’m not a fast runner, but it is my preferred method of exercise.
And you know what month I ran the most miles in 2018?
December.
And I plan to say the same thing about 2019.
There is one reason we fall off the exercise wagon or gain weight during the holidays.
It’s not because we don’t have time. It’s not because we are overwhelmed. It’s not because there is so much to do. It’s not because of the weather.
It’s because we create a victim story for ourselves. We blame people and parties an weather and everything instead of looking at ourselves.
It is time for you to own your shit this holiday season.
You don’t gain weight in December because your coworkers bring a bunch of garbage to the staff room every day.
You gain weight because you make the decision to eat it.
You don’t stop exercising in December because it’s too dark or too cold out.
You stop exercising because you choose not to.
I get it. I have been there.
And then, I decided to be somewhere else.
On Thanksgiving morning, I run a Turkey Trot.
I started doing this about five years ago.
Two years ago, I ran it with Number 4.
Last year we were going to run the race, but it was in the single digits, and while I would have been fine, I wasn’t so sure about the kids running it. I was also behind on the training plan I had made for myself, so you know what I did instead?
I ran three 2-mile loops from my house in between basting the turkey.
It was awesome! The roads are totally empty on Thanksgiving.
I cooked part of Thanksgiving dinner sweaty and still in my running clothes.
I know a lot of people have to travel and this wouldn’t work for everyone, but the point isn’t specifically what I did on Thanksgiving day.
It’s the mindset.
After Thanksgiving dinner last year I took a walk with Number 7.
IT WAS FREEZING.
I could have said it’s too cold.
But that wouldn’t have been owning it.
Not doing something because it’s too cold outside and owning it sounds like I will not walk outside when it’s this cold.
Now you are being honest. And now you are owning it.
If you eat half a pie on Thanksgiving, it’s not because your mom made a pie and you had to eat it.
It’s because you decided to eat it.
The first step to making changes around the holidays is owning your shit.
The next step is making a change.
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