I started 2023 with the best of intentions. I had so many things that I was going to start, or restart. I was going to walk more, get back into keto, lose weight, keep up a consistent word count goal, etc.

Then I fell and gave myself a concussion in January, on Friday the 13th. (Yes, it took me a while to realize that was the actual date of my fall.)

And all those plans kinda went out the window.

The good news is that I hit my word count goal. Blew past it actually, which makes me feel really good.

The other good news is that now, it’s February. I’ve recovered from the concussion with no long-lasting effects.

I can restart everything.

Just because January was a bust doesn’t mean I need to throw in the towel, and that the rest of 2023 is going to be a waste.

I can start logging my food again so that I’m keeping track of how much I’m eating. I can think about losing weight again. I can increase my steps again, and work my way back up to 10K steps per day. I can stop doing “dirty keto” as it’s called and pay attention to my carb intake, so I can get back fully into keto.

Did I miss most of my goals in January? Yup. And quite frankly, I probably would have missed them even without the concussion. I had been building up my steps, and I had been paying more attention to my weight, etc. But not as much as I needed to.

There were a lot (A LOT) of other things going on in January. Like not having any heat in the main house. So I wasn’t pushing myself too hard. Life rolls happen.

I feel as though we’ve finally (FINALLY) crossed a border, and I can push again.

I’d been doing PT for much of January for my hips. I’m to the point, though, that there isn’t much more that the therapist can do for me. It’s up to me to do the rest.

Primarily, that means strength training. My therapist gave me exercises to do, and I have other exercises and things to focus on. My new goal is that every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, starting sometime between 4 and 4:30 PM, I do 20 minutes of strength training. I’ll be following some of the exercises and routines from NerdFitness.com as well.

It won’t be a lot, in terms of strength training. In fact, it’s going to be stupid easy to start with.

I learned long ago that I work much better with a carrot than with a stick. Rewards motivate me much better than threats.

Having a small word count goal every day, only 1500 words, had been a true game changer for me. I’ll do more than that on the days I can. But even on bad days, even when I don’t start writing until late, I can still get in my 1500 words.

Starting every day with a success then sets me up to succeed and feel good for the rest of the day.

And if I feel good, I’m likely to do more.

It’s all win-win, you know?

So if you’re struggling with your goals, maybe it’s time to do a reset. Look at what you want to accomplish and figure out if you can, if your goals are too high, or if you just need to restart.

That’s what I’m doing. And if February turns out to be rough, well, then I’ll restart again come March. Actually, come March, I’ll do what I can in terms of my goals, but I’ll probably reset them and lower them because I’ll have two eye surgeries in March.

Best of luck!