Happy New Year Everyone!!!    We hope that you had a wonderful holiday season filled with special time with family; a good rest; and some time spent in gratitude for all that you have been blessed with during 2014.

The New Year is upon us and with it often comes a lot of resolutions to eat right, exercise more, and cut out this, that, and the other. We usually stick to these new goals for about a month (if you’re lucky!) and then daily life starts to get too crowded to make room for our new good intentions.

With this post, we were hoping to get you thinking a little more deeply about where you are going and what you are planning to achieve in 2015. We are living in a day and age that, unfortunately, promotes shifting responsibility to other people, our current circumstances, and our environment. We are bombarded by messages that tell us to find something external to “fix” whatever situation we are in: take this pill; try this new diet; it’s “their” fault; my life is too busy…There are thousands of excuses. But, at the end of the day…it’s your life, and your responsibility to make the best of it.

How about that for cutting to the chase?! This is a very simple concept that we feel passionately about and most particularly, as it relates to your most valuable asset: Your health.  We challenge you to think about how you are nurturing and investing in your most valuable asset. Do you even think about your health as an asset?

Without your health, could you go to work? Play with your kids? Drive? Make meals? Play sports? Take some time to identify the activities that have value in your life, and then imagine how you would accomplish those things if you had back pain, stress-related mental health challenges, or even something as simple as a cold or a sore throat?

When our health is negatively impacted or not fulfilled in any of the 6 components (mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, social, or environmental), it often manifests itself as a physical problem. Most of us are no strangers to health problems, illness or pain, and we wish we could live our lives disease-free, with more energy, and enjoy our daily lives. What most of us are not aware of is that our body is perfectly capable of healing itself IF we maximize its potential and make health and healing a priority.

But how do you know where to start? Take some time this week and just think about the different areas of your life where you do not feel happy, balanced, and fulfilled.

  • Do you sleep well? When was the last time you woke up feeling energetic and refreshed?
  • Who are the people surrounding you in your life on a daily basis? Do they lift you up or bring you down? Do they see “the bright side” of a situation, or do they always see the problems? Do conversations with them always have a negative focus, or do they point out what lifts them up on a daily basis?
  • Do you fuel your body with delicious and nutritious choices? Do you even know what your food is made of? Do you know what your body needs to function well?
  • Can you run and play with your kids in the park and feel great? Or do you limit your activities because of discomfort and fatigue?
  • Do you reflect and think about your life’s purpose? Or do you go from one day to the next, and before you know it, the week has come and gone and you are on to the next thing on the list?

I challenge you to make a health plan for 2015. Make a clear and achievable goal for each of these 6 areas: mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and environmental. Set a timeline and figure out how you will know when that goal has been achieved.

Life is full of obstacles. We can surround ourselves with them or use them as stepping stones to a happy, healthy, and fulfilled life.

Happy New Year!

Yours in health,

Dr. Sarah Wild and Dr. Brad Wild