Want Your Best Winter Ever? Start the New Year on December 1st

Hate winter? Do this one thing.

As a chiropractor in downtown Ottawa, I endure long, cold winters. I can’t count how many times I hear from my patients “I hate winter”, or “I’m not a winter person”. Let’s change what we are telling ourselves and embrace winter for what it really is – an opportunity!

Let’s try something different this year – just one thing that will absolutely revolutionize how we feel about winter and about our experience of winter in our minds, bodies and spirits. Here it is:

Begin your New Year on December 1st.

What!? Why would I do that? Who does that?

Let me explain why this one shift will help you to embrace the opportunity that winter brings to us each year.

All of your usual goals/resolutions set for January 1st will serve you well through the holiday season. Regular chiropractic adjustments, exercising, eating better, more time for self, setting boundaries, etc….all of these things will help you to actually enjoy the potentially stressful, emotionally charged, deadline-ridden season that Christmas can become.

You will go into Christmas and the New Year’s, a typical time of indulgence, empowered by the self-control and discipline you’ve exercised in the previous three weeks. One piece of dessert will not turn into three…two drinks will not turn into four. You will be on a roll and it will feel great. Self-control leads to empowerment.

You will be in a better frame of mind to begin your 2018. When January 1st comes around, you won’t have that extra 7 lbs to lose! You can hit the ground running in your life and not carry the sense of burden and self-loathing that come with that spare tire.

My next blog will be about the 5 areas you should consider in your life when making your December 1st goals/resolutions. The five areas will be: physical, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual. We will be looking at making small, realistic, easy action steps in each or these areas between now and Christmas and throughout the winter.

You can do this!

Dr. Derek Haughton