New Year, New Start!
So you resolved to make a serious change in your life this year. Need some help getting there? Don’t we all. Here are some helpful resources for some of the most common goals.
Lose Weight
Jillian Michaels will totally kick your butt. Grab her 3-in-one workout the 30 Day Shred and you’ll feel the wrath and the burn.
Women’s Health has a wealth of free articles, ideas and recipes.
Yoga Today has a free workout every week. My favorite relaxing, yet energizing yoga workout DVD is Dance the Chakras.
Netflix has workouts available instantly included with your subscription. My favorite has to be Michael Olajide Killer Abs and Back.
Laugh More
The Oatmeal is creative and hilarious and covers a wide array of subjects.
Hyperbole and a Half makes several of my friends laugh until they cry on a regular basis.
Fail Blog cracks my husband up to no end.
Eat More Fruit & Vegetables
Phillip McCluskey is so positive and willing to talk about anything. Check out his podcasts, books, and videos. His weight loss journey is an inspiration.
Natasha St. Michael has made hundreds of videos answering questions and giving support for the raw-food lifestyle she follows. Get some fresh ideas about how to add more raw food to your diet.
Youtube has turned out to be an incredible free resource for my health. I found Phillip, Natasha and so many others I now follow via youtube. Anything you want you can find there, from zumba to the 300 workout, and it’s free.
Be More Positive
The Positivity Blog is one I recently stumbled upon and I really love the content and the concept.
The Secret/The Power are great guides for visualizing positive change.
Notes From The Universe have been adding happiness and hope to my inbox for a couple years now.
Spend More Time With Friends & Family
Stop watching TV (and save money when you cut the cable)
Save Money
Mint.com has really helped us set up our finances in one place.
Coupons save families serious money every day. More ideas from MSN money.
Quit Smoking
According to that MSN link, quitting smoking can also save you about $1800/year, not including medical bills or gas to get the cigs. Smokefree.gov looks like a good place to start and you can get extra advice and support at quitnet.com, an online community for smokers trying to quit.
Meet Someone Special
Joel and I met four years ago on eHarmony and now we are happily married! Lucky? Sure! But it’s pretty lucky to meet someone great in a bar too. They have also finally addressed the same-sex community with their sister site Compatible Partners! And they are in the middle of their free communication event for the New Year so it’s free to get started talking to matches.
Get Out More
Yelp.com is an awesome way to check out new restaurants, salons, bars & businesses before actually trying them out. Listen to hundreds of others in your area critique the places, and then venutre into semi-uncharted territory.
DenverWestword.com is a go-to in our area, as well as BoulderDowntown.org. Sometimes it’s good to think of your town from the eyes of a tourist and try something totally new and wacky in order to shake things up. Pick up a copy of your free local paper and go to a concert or do something you used to do all the time but have let go because of the work-routine rut. Take up your friends and family when they offer to babysit!
Image Source: meddygarnet
Suz, Sometimes it is the misfortunes of others that inspire me. I don’t mean that in a mean sense, but when others around me are so down I vow to never let myself get that low. Of course, sometimes life throws crap at us that we wish we did not have to deal with, but then we don’t always have a choice, do we? It’s like when Frodo is wishing that “none of this had ever happened”. Gandalf replies that “so does everyone who sees such (bad) times, but all we have to do is decide what to do with time that is given to us”. That’s the trick – to us our time wisely, but I can’t help anyone else with that. Just try to have fun and do good things along the way…