January Report Card

At the beginning of this month, I outlined one major health goal that I have for this year: balance. My life is messy; it's crazy-busy; and at the end of 2011 I was wiped out. So I made myself a promise: to do whatever it takes to restore balance to my life. And I decided to essentially give myself a monthly "report card" assessing my progress. With one month gone, the question is: did I deliver on my promise?

Physical Health
This area was my strongest going into 2012, and still might be, though there is definitely still lots of room for improvement. My sleep patterns have improved a bit; I still stay up later than I'd like, making me tired during the day, or needing a nap mid-afternoon (which causes the cycle to repeat over and over). My diet is better; I've virtually eliminated take-out from my diet, with the exception of sushi, and am eating regular meals more often, but still battling too many low blood sugars. Again, there is ample room for improvement. Sadly, exercise was basically non-existent in January. I went for a few runs, snowshoed once, and snowboarded once. Pretty sad, considering I usually get in a good workout at least 5 days a week. However, I have set some nice big race goals this year, including a couple of half-marathons, a full marathon, at least 2 long distance bike races, a triathlon, and the Tough Mudder (stay tuned for a post this week about upcoming races/events). The events will motivate me to get moving, and fast. Assessment: C

Mental Health
As a teacher I get a bit of a mental workout every day, and I love to read. I set a goal to read 50 books in 2012, or just under 1 per week, but I only read 2 books this month. I'll have to step it up for February. January's BSC Book Club post will also appear this week. Assessment: C+

Emotional Health
Overall I did pretty good in this area. I was much less stressed this month than usual. I feel calm, grounded, and more connected with my family than I was in late 2011. Always room for improvement here, but increased exercise directly correlates to a decreased stress level for me, so even more reason to step up the cardio. Assessment: B

Spiritual Health
Whoa. No progress in this area this month. Assessment: D