Happy New Year!

Hello and Happy New Year to all! We do this silly thing each December where we eat all the food and drink all the drinks while try to manage the stress of the holidays, the lack of sunlight and busy schedules. The reoccurring phrase seems to be, “I’ll start January 1st” or “I’ll take care of that January 1st.” When January 1st arrived on a Saturday this year, how many of you gave yourself a few extra days of indulgence or rest? I sure did!

We can’t expect to make all of the changes on the start of the new year, but we can make small changes that will add up over the course of the year. Whether your goal is to read more, eat healthier, be more active, spend more time with family, make your goal obtainable and let it be something that makes you happy. I love when people make a goal of something they can do such as “read more books” instead of a goal of something they shouldn’t do such as “eat less chocolate.” The diet culture in our country is awful. I am loving the change that is starting to happen that revolves around loving your body and creating a strong body rather than a skinny body. Set goals that make you happy, not goals that punish your body.

Here are a few of my own goals for 2022:
1. Read and listen to more books.
2. Find more ways to rest and relax such as foam rolling or yoga to physically slow down my body.
3. Continue to work on work life balance, loving my job, being present for my family and allowing myself to say “no.”

It’s no secret that I love reading. I hope that each one of you make a small goal to not only enjoy a few books for yourself this year, but to also carve out time to read to the children in your life. I will continue to firmly believe that we can change the world by reading books to children. Allowing children to find themselves in books, experience new situations to build empathy, compassion, kindness and traveling the world to see the beauty in other cultures…all from the comfort of a couch or classroom, is a very beauty thing.

I am wishing you a healthy, happy, kindness filled year. What are your goals?

I highly recommend using the Goodreads app to track your reading and read reviews. You can visit my page and follow me using the link below. I’d love to see you on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21985659.Christina_Dankert