To me
Coming from you
Friend is a four letter word
End is the only part of the word
That I heard
Call me morbid or absurd

I was obsessed with Cake when I was in high school. I wanted to be that girl in a short skirt and a long jacket–in fact, I think my friend and I tried that look and then realized it was way to ’90s fashion and not enough early 2000’s fashion and we gave up and just belted the music from my 1988 Grand Marquis as we drove around our small N. Michigan town. It wasn’t until she and I got into a fight that I really started finding meaning in some of the brilliant lyrics they were putting out there.

When I realized what “friend is a four letter word” meant it hit home, mostly because my best friend since I was 14 had just ditched me for a guy and I was left calling her four letter words alone in my car. And it clicked–friend is a bad word, coming from her, to me… it hurt.

WHY am I talking about Cake when it’s New Years Resolution time? Or four letter words when ‘friend’, F-R-I-E-N-D is clearly a 6 letter word–Yeesh, Sloan, get with it–amiright?

Well, I want to blow your mind–I have news for you–D-I-E-T is a four letter word. Both literally and in the message I want to convey to you and your friends.

“Wait, wait, wait. Sloan–you are a personal trainer, a health coach AND know more about nutrition that most people I know… Aren’t I supposed to go on a diet January 1st? Well, January 2nd actually–I’ll be too hungover and needing carbs on the 1st. But all the magazines tell me to do a juice cleanse, a raw vegan, sober, high protein, with the lunar moons and my hormonal cycle DIET. This is what we do EVERY YEAR!!!”

I get you. Most people’s New Years Resolutions made every year have to do with losing weight, getting into shape and making this year the best year EVA! However, how often do we fall off the wagon, only to get super down on ourselves by mid February, drown our sorrows in post Valentines Day candy sales and say “next year”?

Here’s what I propose: Don’t make resolutions. Make a commitment to one or two small health changes in your day to day. Here’s what that can look like:

-Get a skim latte instead of a full fat one.
-Get off a stop earlier and walk a little bit more.
-Wake up 20 minutes earlier so you have time to do some yoga or gentle stretching.
-Pass on that hump day glass of wine.
-Swap brown rice for white rice.
-Order the fish instead of the steak.
-Try a new class at the gym.
-Do research on hiring a personal trainer or a health coach. Ask questions about who they are and what they do.
-Set an alarm for once an hour to get up from your desk and walk around, do 10 squats and stretch your arms in the air, (this feels really good, I promise!)

DIET’s set us up to fail. They set us up to do xyz for XX amount of time and then when cabbage soup is falling out of our ears it’s over. The 30 day cleanse is no longer a constant after February 1st and guess what? We lose everything, errr or we gain everything back. By making small manageable changes we develop habits. Life long skills that don’t encourage an end point. There is no end point to a balanced lifestyle.

Resolutions give us the idea that we accomplish this one thing and then we’re done. But guess what? Living a healthy life, walking your daughter down the isle at her wedding this summer, playing with Legos on the floor with your grandson, keeping up with your marathon running significant other–these are all things that will not happen with a ‘resolution’. They will happen when you make sustainable, maintainable changes in your life. 

One. Step. At. A. Time.

So. As we kiss 2016 goodbye (FINALLY), let’s start 2017 not with a list of huge resolutions. Let’s break that habit and start small. Start with manageable. Start with a 20 minute walk and some extra stretching at our desks. Let me help. Email me. Leave a comment. I want to hear what you’re doing in 2017 and beyond. I want to know how I can help you!