Inspiration for the New Year

As we have finished another year lived and embarking in a new one, this is a great time to reflect back and analyze how the year went and set the intention for the New Year ahead. A powerful question to ask ourselves as the new year starts is, “What needs to happen in 2019 for you to be happy/satisfied at the end of it?” It’s a way to challenge us to see and set a vision for our year ahead and then to start to reverse engineer the process to “make a plan and now get to work to make it happen.”

I always loved sitting down on New Year’s Day with a blank sheet of paper and writing down my thoughts, my goals, my objectives for the year. I take this time to reflect back on the last year and take my learnings into the new year with me: the mistakes, the challenges and also all the successes to be my inspiration that will help take me to new heights in the upcoming year.

In general, the concept of small, gradual changes that can be maintained over time, that’s the key to lasting changes. In my 20 years in the health industry, the most successful clients I have worked with are the ones who moderate behavior, not radically change it.

People often feel that they need to be perfect. In reality, it's small changes in your health that can create large impacts. Can’t commit to the gym? Go for a walk every day, cut back on sweets, eat more veggies and fruits, watch your portions, drink a glass of water every hour at work and maybe try to go to bed a little earlier each night.

These simple things won’t land you on the cover of a fitness magazine, but I guarantee, you will feel the impact in your energy, health and life all year long.

Good luck and enjoy the journey.

Here are some of my favorite quotes to inspire you into the New Year!

• "The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals and having a vision." – Melody Beattie
• "The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot." – Michael Altshuler
• "New Year's Day. A fresh start. A new chapter in life waiting to be written. New questions to be asked, embraced, and loved. Answers to be discovered and then lived in this transformative year of delight and self-discovery. Today carve out a quiet interlude for yourself in which to dream, pen in hand. Only dreams give birth to change." – Sarah Ban Breathnach
• "Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, 'It will be happier.' " – Alfred Lord Tennyson
• "Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better person." – Benjamin Franklin
• "Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one." – Brad Paisley
• "There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind." – C.S. Lewis
• "We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." – Edith Lovejoy Pierce
• "There is nothing magical about the flip of the calendar, but it represents a clean break, a new hope, and a blank canvas." – Jason Soroski
• "New year, new blessing, new grace and new opportunities, never allow the failures of the past to rub you of the blessings in the new year." – Bamigboye Olurotimi
• "We all get the exact same 365 days. The only difference is what we do with them." – Hillary DePiano
• "An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves." – Bill Vaughn
• "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." – Albert Einstein

Have a wonderful and blessed Holiday and New Year,
David Pritchard
Be Well-Work Well-Live Well