New Year

Shed Light on COVID Positives

Each New Year Matt and I take a long walk where we review the prior year and pin expectations, hopes, and dreams on the coming one. What struck me as I ended 2020 feeling exhausted and a bit deflated was how much joy filled our year was we started reminiscing. That joy lingered well into the COVID months. It was good to shed light on the COVID positives.

Canada Shed Light

We opened the year on an adventure in Canada to freeze our hair. The weather worked against us. Canada had a random warm spell bringing the temps hovering around freezing, but not the negative temps required to freeze our hair until we looked like abominable snow people. Instead the weather provided one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. The Aurora Borealis danced green and slightly purple in the sky. I was in awe and wonder of the world—a state I often find myself.

Birthday in COVID

My birthday came first in my family in COVID-land. Since Broadway was shuttered and I couldn’t see Hamilton my family acted out a duel in my front yard. I was grateful for every Broadway show I’d […]

Shed Light on COVID PositivesMaggie Downie2021-01-11T13:25:13-05:00

What motivates you?

What is it that motivates you to move? The answer to that question is important to answer if you want to keep moving and stick to any New Year’s Resolutions you may have set to improve your health and wellness. What motivates you? Keep reading to find out.

What Motivates You

Research claims that health and weight loss are two motivators that encourages us to get started with a workout routine, but our health and weight are not strong enough motivators to keep us committed. That means many of our good intentions in January start to slack off mid month. One fitness App that tracks workouts indicates that most people have given up on their fitness resolutions by Jan 17^th. That date has come and gone.

That’s why it is important to understand what your real, intrinsic (personal) motivator to move is…especially if you are someone who doesn’t LOVE moving. If you need to force yourself to move, knowing what motivates you is vital to helping you stay devoted to a fitness routine.

Allow for Change

What motivates us can change over time. Maybe it’s your desire to play with your kids or grandkids. Maybe you’ve always wanted to run a 5K or build up […]

What motivates you?Maggie Downie2020-01-20T17:42:54-05:00

12 Ways to Keep New Year’s Resolutions

Movement can be playful!

It’s all too common. We make our New Year’s Resolutions to get and keep moving with exercise routines on Jan 2nd and by February we’ve forgotten all about it. So how do you stay motivated? Here are some tips for keeping active longer. Different suggestion work for different people, so figure out what it is that motivates you!

Keep Moving Tips

• Make sure a class or gym you register for it close. The closer it is to you home, the more likely you are to do it.
• Find a seasonal activity to love. Maybe swimming in summer or cross country skiing in winter.
• Meet a friend. You get to visit and move. Plus you hold each other accountable.
• Make sure it’s fun. You won’t do it if you hate it. And movement can and should be fun.
• Only allow yourself to watch TV if you are moving. So you can watch if you get on the bike, elliptical or get down and do some crunches.
• Agree to at least 5 minutes of movement a day. More often than not once you get started you’ll do more, but if […]

12 Ways to Keep New Year’s ResolutionsMaggie Downie2018-02-14T16:00:57-05:00

Just Get Started

I went to Waterford High School, where I think I was lucky to have a number of really good teachers. One of my favorites was my junior year English teacher, Gail Dimaggio. She set up classes like Socratic seminars and asked us to think about what we were reading. It’s hard to teach someone to think, but that typically seemed to be her goal. One of her regular reminders was to “just get started.”

She told us that starting is always the hardest part, but once you start to write a paper the doing gets easier. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were wrong. It’s not the waiting that’s the hardest part. It’s the starting. Mrs. Dimaggio was right. There are […]

Just Get StartedMaggie Downie2018-02-14T17:44:43-05:00

Still Stuck on a New Year’s Resolution?

My friend Julie came up with one of the better resolutions I’ve ever heard. Here’s what she is planning on doing:

She’s going to pick twelve friends/relatives. From this group she’ll decide on one specific trait that she admires in each person. Then each month she will try to incorporate that characteristic into her life–just for one month, unless she opts to continue. For example, for January is following in the footsteps of a friend of hers who truly lives by her convictions. So Julie, who supports the vegetarian lifestyle, but hasn’t lived as a vegetarian is going to go meatless for the month of January. She’ll be living by one of her own convictions. At the end of January she can stick with it or return to her carnivorous ways.

Why this is such a great idea:

1) It really makes you think about what it is you admire about the people who surround you (and you can let them know that too).

2) Each month you sort of get a new resolution, so […]

Still Stuck on a New Year’s Resolution?Maggie Downie2017-09-12T19:32:25-04:00