January 31. I’ve completed my first new month resolution: daily flossing and exercise (Kelly Attempts? Kelly Succeeds). We’re only in January, but I’ve got unrealistically high hopes that by changing up my resolutions every month, I won’t get bored. This is what happened in January:
- I flossed every day and it was amazing
- I exercised every day, which was really, really tough (but doable)
The Power of Flossing
Let’s start with flossing. Until now, flossing has always been up there with the minor tasks in life that are annoying, comparable with putting laundry away, unloading the top rack of the dishwasher, and washing my face at night. I’ve made it this long in my anti-dedication to the flossing habit, and have gotten off fairly easily at the dentist all things considered.
It’s worth noting here that I also fear the dentist. What’s to fear? I love the way my teeth feel afterward, my dentist himself is awesome, my hygienist is even better, but the sound that reverberates in my ears and shimmies down to my toes is enough to make me pause on making regular appointments (I feel the same way about the sound I hear when biting into an apple, and to this day won’t chew an apple peel for fear of a full-body goose-bump breakout).
Enter, flossing. I’m told you should only floss the teeth you want to keep. Turns out, I want to keep all of them (even my four impacted wisdom teeth I’m told I should get removed), and so I set off on this first month resolution to floss every day, and boy did it deliver. Flossing is amazing. Flossing is satisfying. Flossing gets me excited about brushing my teeth at night because I know they are going to feel so squeaky clean before closing my eyes to sleep. I’ve drunk the flossing Kool-aid (metaphorically, my dentist would kill me if I actually drank that sugary crap), and met my first 30 day mental challenge without any bumps in the road.
Exercising Every Day is Really Hard
I’m pretty sure the month of January exists exclusively to make lifestyle changes related to health and physical wellness, does it not? Who am I to ignore that the holidays’ yearly gift to me is a handful of unwanted pounds? By the end of the year, I am ready to jump on the January bandwagon along with friends, family and strangers to stop eating at the rate of a teenage boy and feel just a bit better in my jeans (or yoga pants, who am I kidding?). Enter the January exercise challenge.
Disclaimer: I’m a newly subscribed Peloton fan? enthusiast? addict? I am Mrs. Holderness. I bought a second-hand Peloton in early December on what I call a “gut-led-impulse-decision,” and it. is. baller.
I joined the Peloton January 2021 kick-off challenge. The instructions seemed simple enough: do a Peloton exercise class every day (cycling, running, yoga, stretch, strength, etc.). After day 10 of nonstop cardio training, I happily accepted a new reality: this 30 day challenge didn’t mean 30 minute sweat inducing cardio class every day… it just meant I had to move my body every day, whether it was for 5 minutes or 45.
I committed to giving myself, on average, 20 minutes of me time for physical wellness. I tried to get 4 to 5 of those “sweat inducing” glasses I mentioned, but found there were other days I was just too sore, too tired, or too “I don’t want to” to jump on the bike. On those days, I made myself stretch or do a yoga class, which still made my body feel really good, while also giving me necessary time alone. It helped the I got the check mark on the Peloton app, too. That marketing team knows what its doing.
Cool Things I Figured Out
- Yoga and stretching are a critical part of any exercise routine
- Flossing is the hygiene equivalent of making your bed; you immediately feel like you’ve accomplished something and should do it every day
- The best version of me is the version that has a little time set aside for herself each day
About Kelly Attempts
Kelly Attempts is an attempt to tackle 12 “new month/30 day/4-week” resolutions over the course of a year without breaking them. This blog is the chronicling of that ridiculous goal, lessons learned, and self-discoveries.
February challenge is up next: I’m diving into a 4-week “Core Crush” program and am going to tackle iPhone photo clean up. Stay tuned.