Look back to look forward

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Whoa—it's December already? This year has probably been one of change and challenge, trying and triumph. As your Weekly explains, you can learn a lot about where to go by taking a good look at what's behind you. But assess yourself without judgment or blame. You simply want to reflect on your healthy-living efforts and see what's become part of your everyday routine, and what didn't quite work, so you can continue your progress into 2019 and onward.

Assessing the past—whether it's weeks, months, or even years— helps in three key ways by...

Giving you a positive reality check. We often focus on goals we haven’t reached or what we think still needs to be changed. Paying attention to what you’ve already learned and accomplished can inspire you and boost confidence.

Pointing out what works and what doesn’t. All parts of your wellness journey, the ups and the downs, offer feedback that can guide your next steps. Calling out your successes (what are the changes that immediately—or finally! – just clicked?) and your struggles (what changes did you try that didn’t stick?) will help you decide how to move forward.

Providing a blueprint for a workable, realistic plan: Paying attention to changes that worked for you, not against you, can help you tweak your routine, schedule, and habits.

Reality-check your thinking

We have a tendency to criticize ourselves—_if only I'd done this, why didn't I try harder on that_—which can undermine our confidence and focus. If you find yourself seeing only what didn't happen, give those visions a reality check.

Here are two examples of unhelpful—but common—end-of-year thinking. If similar things have run through your mind, see how you can reality check them to come up with new, helpful thoughts that can give you a fresh outlook for the weeks and months to come.

Unhelpful thought: “I told myself I'd be more active this year but the gym is so far away that I hardly ever went. Maybe getting more active just isn’t my thing.”

Helpful thought: “I didn’t meet my goal to be more active because my plan to go to the gym didn’t work for me. That doesn’t mean I can’t or don’t want to be more active. This year I'll find an activity I can do at home so it's convenient.”

Unhelpful thought: “I tried to increase my veggie intake by making more meals with leafy greens. But, honestly, I never really liked them so I just stopped after awhile. Guess I lost that battle.”

Helpful thought: “I learned that I really just don’t like leafy greens. But I also learned that I _really_ enjoy roasted carrots, which I'd never tried before. This year, I’ll try roasting other veggies to see what else I might like!"