January Update
My year started out like a dumpster on fire. I’d been sick since December and despite multiple negative Covid tests something still felt wrong so I went for one last test. Low and behold it came back positive. The physical symptoms are not fun but there is an added emotional drain. You spend basically two years doing everything you can, following every guideline, only to get Covid for Christmas and spend the whole holiday feeling garbage. I don’t think we really talk about how much it feels like losing to get Covid after everything. I felt embarrassed about it but it happened despite my best efforts. The choices I made to be safe have protected me from more dangerous variants and protected people around me from also contracting Covid. So there is nothing much else to do but stay hydrated, stay apart, and deal with things as they came. Needless to say, I had a much slower start to my year than I was anticipating. Here is my January update.
January Health Goal
Fortunately for me, I chose a rather low-energy goal for January. I’m not sure I would have had any success with something more involved. Considering how my year started. I decided for this first month to drink enough water. A humble goal to be sure but an absolutely essential one. I routinely forget to drink water and it felt like a baseline I needed to establish before I could be successful with any other health goal. Like I’ve said before I’m not aiming to drastically change my body in a short amount of time. I’m trying to build healthy habits that will stick with me for the rest of my life. Not very exciting I know but then again so much of life isn’t terribly exciting but that doesn’t mean it’s not important.
I did a lot of googling (medical websites not influencers) to find out just how much water I should be drinking. There is a LOT of information out there but most of the credible sites I went to say as a general rule women should drink 2-2.7 liters of water for an adequate daily intake. I decided that for me since my water bottle was 800ml I would drink three of those each day. If you can’t math like I can’t math that’s 2.4 liters every day. Full transparency I decided that other liquids without sugar or milk would count towards my water intake. So for example herbal teas would count but tea with milk or pop wouldn’t count. That’s just what I chose for myself. There are arguments that all liquid counts towards ‘water’ intake and arguments against it. I didn’t feel like getting too pedantic about things.
How did it go?
Well, I peed a lot more, that’s for sure. But honestly, after the first week, it felt like my body got on board with me being properly hydrated and I wasn’t running to the bathroom all hours of the day. I don’t know about anyone else but before this, I would not drink water all day then just as soon as I was going to bed I would feel so thirsty, drink a ton of water, and then wake up in the middle of the night to pee. Like an old person. Needless to say, I haven’t been waking up in the middle of the night this month.
What I really noticed was the ease I found drinking all that water depending on how early in the day I started. They say you eat what you can see and turns out you also drink what you can see. The days where I started my day with filling my water bottle and drinking it kickstarted everything and I wasn’t forgetting to drink when I was thirsty. I know for me and probably a lot of people I’ve toned out that feeling of being thirsty until I’m absolutely parched. Having my water bottle available almost let me pay attention to my body’s needs in a better way.
I know this is such a minor thing but I am genuinely really proud of myself for meeting this goal every day!
What did I make?
Not much and I’m happy about it. So I did start in on my Fleur Robe. I cut everything out and sewed up the shoulder seams. Because of the type of fabric, I’m using (it’s slippery satin-ish material) I’m sewing it up with french seams. Sewing french seams give me a clean-finished edge but I have to sew each seam twice. It’s slow going but the fabric is seemingly easier to sew than I initially expected.
Oh, also I fell behind in my Minerva Makes and needed to get a New Look pattern done before the end of January so I pushed the robe aside to get this two-piece suit done.
Generosity Check In
A great time to not try and be altruistic is when you’re sick. Was the universe really sending me a message that being more generous was a horrible stupid decision or was I sick and tired and overall a bit miserable? This is the question that took up a lot of my brain space early in the month.
What’s the answer? I haven’t decided yet. I will be transparent and risk seeming like a complete jerk but every time I made a deliberate choice to be generous it seemed to come back to bite me in the butt. Maybe it’s just a shock to the system after several years of not being this way? Or maybe it’s just something that comes along with giving of yourself, sometimes it will come back to bite you. I just have to ask myself, is it still worth it to be generous? Well, I’ve committed to it as a 2022 goal so for now, the answer is yes.
To make this not as bleak I will say I have really tried to focus on making time for asking how someone’s day has been and responding to those questions when they are put to me. I’m loving it. If that’s all we talk about it’s lovely to check in with the people you care about. I feel much more grounded and peaceful at home. Is this the pinnacle of generosity? Probably not. But we start with baby steps.
I’m realizing that this is sort of an abstract resolution. How exactly do you mark the progress of an almost entirely internal goal? I’m not really sure.
So there you go, that’s how I’ve been getting on with my 2022 goals. It seems like I haven’t done much, arguably I haven’t done much, but I’m happy with this month. I’m happy slowing myself down and adding intention into the things I am doing.
I’d love to hear about how you are getting on with your goals.
Hannah
