Five Can-do All Year Round Resolutions for the Over-fifty Crowd!
With each New Year come the tired, worn-out lists of resolutions: losing weight, exercising more, becoming a new person. But we all know that those resolutions are long forgotten by mid-January.
What if you made some resolutions this year that are easy to do? What if you actually kept them? Here are five can-do resolutions that are relatively stress-free and yet will prove very satisfying if kept. Why not try them?
Feed Your Brain
Don’t let boredom and run of the mill television watching fill your days. Instead be proactive in filling your time with worthwhile projects and activities. Take an exercise or dance class, join a book club or other group that engages in healthy discussion. Do crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles or online brain games. Study a new language, learn to knit, crochet or sew—the choices are endless and your local Senior Center or Community College may have more options to keep your brain active and engaged.
Eat More Fresh Food
It’s easy to go through an entire day and not eat any fresh food. Our processed and fast-food meals aren’t good for us. Why not set a goal of eating at least two or three fresh items each day? Add some fruit to your cereal, eat veggie sticks as a snack, choose an apple instead of cookies in the evening. Try a fruit or vegetable you’ve never eaten before. Look for recipes that sound tasty and use fresh fruits or vegetables. You’ll be sure to find some new favorites and improve your diet at the same time.
Schedule and Keep Regular Medical Appointments
Even if we’re in relatively good health, it’s important to schedule and keep regular medical appointments. We should stay up to date on inoculations, skin checks, medicine evaluations and vision and hearing tests. Regular dental check-ups can help avoid painful procedures and we’re more likely to catch problems such as high blood pressure, heart conditions, and osteoporosis with regular doctor visits.
Organize Important Documents
This task can seem daunting, but it’s so important. We want to have our insurance policies, investments, assets, our will and any other important papers such as end of life decisions well-organized and safely stored for our families in the event of a crisis. Find a safe place in your home or a safe deposit box at a banking institution and place those important papers where your family members can find them in case of emergency. You’ll breathe a sigh of relief when that big job is done.
Organize Your Photos and Tell the Stories
If you’re like me you stopped organizing family photos somewhere around 1982. The kids are grown and gone and the grandkids are growing too. You may have boxes and drawers full of pictures, or you’ve graduated to saving your photos online. Either way, you may want to organize files of your pictures and take time with the older ones that tell the story of your family history. Your children and grandchildren may not remember who the elder members of the family were and the stories of their lives. You can tape record the important family stories to accompany the photos or use computer voice programs to “talk” your stories for the benefit of younger family members.
You may think of other can-do resolutions that will work better for you. The New Year really can be a time for fresh starts and new beginnings. Happy 2016!
