Hey body, what do you need?

The dark wood of my desk welcomes the morning stream of light that enters through the windowpane of our 1880s farmhouse. I hear the sounds of my husband in the kitchen and the sweet aroma of coffee drifts my way. It’s December, yet Chicago weather seems to be picking the temperatures like the most recent Powerball numbers: 16, 40, 41, 62... I think about the past year and cringe: I’m still without a job, my house is a complete mess, my dogs have a longer rap sheet than I do because of their barking, I am still 20+ pounds heavier than I wanted to be for Christmas pictures, and somehow in the middle of it all I developed anxiety. Happy New Year to me.

This past year has been a brilliant disaster of absolutely no achievement even though I was given all the time in the world. I had resolved at the beginning of the year to get a job, start exercising, and even smile more. Yet, here I am in the small place with a whole lot more regrets than things to be thankful for. What to resolve to do in 2022? I let out a long slow breath and rest my hands on the keys of my laptop. Then it hit me and my fingers began to fly.

I resolve in 2022 to put absolutely no pressure on myself to achieve anything, instead, the only thing I want to do in 2022 is to breathe and listen to my body. This new year, I will no longer be working towards goals I set for a body that isn’t ready for them. 2021 sucked (almost worse than 2020) but my body must have needed a break and instead of listening to it, I tried to push it into a mold that my body had no intention of fitting into.

This year I want to do the following, and I think you should too.

1. When my body says ‘no’ to a night out, listen. In years past, my resolution has been to go out more, be more social, make more friends but when I look back on those years I realize how tired I was. How exhausted I was at trying to be someone I was not ready to be. We all have this fear of missing out on things our friends are doing, but our body is the only one we get. If we run it into the ground trying to be everywhere our friends are we will crash. We will crash hard.

2. I will sleep in (when I need to). A few weeks ago, my body was up and ready to take on the day at 5am. FIVE. IN. THE. MORNING. Never in my life have I been a morning person, but my body told me that we were ready to be awake so instead of crawling back into bed after looking at the clock I got dressed, went downstairs, and read for an hour. It was the most glorious hour of the day. Since then, I’m back on my 7:30am wake-up schedule but for that week, that’s what my body needed.

3. I will eat what my body tells me to eat. Now, this one is tricky because it can easily get out of hand. But if you are trying to be healthier in your eating habits, try listening to your body. The whole ‘woman crave chocolate on their periods’ is so true because as we bleed our body is depleted of magnesium. Magnesium is great for sore muscles, which cramps are the contracting of your muscles. It’s stunning how amazing our bodies are, isn’t it?

4. I will give up coffee. This one is the hardest and came before we rang in the new year. When I say I love coffee. I mean I LOVE coffee. We ran out of coffee one Saturday morning and I was in my car driving to Adli before I had even put socks (or a bra) on. But when I listened to my body and thought about the anxiousness I was feeling more regularly I could almost always tell that when I drank my (number that shall not be named) cups of coffee I could feel my heart rate increase. It was scary. I remember the moments of sitting on the couch with my laptop and all of a sudden, my heart rate would skyrocket. Instead of selfishly wanting to keep drinking the delicious morning brew that brought me life, I am listening to my body and slowly reducing my intake until I am completely coffee-free by the first of the new year.

5. I will forgive myself when I need a break. I don't believe life was ever meant to be a competition for the busiest calendar. It was meant to be enjoyed. So, if you love having every night booked and never a moment to yourself, then you live that life to its fullest. But if you like to have your weekends free for spontaneous trips to Target or a walk up a mountain. Then live that life! But know it's okay to take a break from that and fill the calendar or vice versa. Your entire life is filled with seasons and each one of them is going to look different than the last. Embrace that.

This year, I hope to become the healthiest version of me I can be, not by taking the online quizzes or popping the newest diet pill but by trusting that my body knows what it needs and listening to it. My body is not like yours and you and I are not going to fit into those online questioners that promise to help you improve your life, because they don’t know you. Not your spouse or partner, not your parents or best friend, not even your therapist. You are the only one who knows you.

I’m adding monthly check-ins with my body to make sure what I’m listening to isn’t coming from my selfish desire to eat dessert with every meal, but to be listening to the needs of my body. We are on this journey together, hand in hand.