Like many people who keep New Year’s resolutions, I am working toward exercising more and taking charge of my health. In honor of my fresh start, I dusted off my gym membership card, put on my exercise gear and headed out as the sun rose to “get physical.” After exercising, I felt energized and ready for the day. I forgot how good it feels to exercise.

Here are some of the benefits of regular exercise:

• Helps you manage your weight & builds/maintains healthy bones, joints and muscles
• Improves your mood
• Increases  your energy & can put back the spark in your sex life
• Combats chronic diseases & reduces the risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure and some cancers
• Reduces stress, depression and anxiety
• Promotes better sleep
• Increases the good cholesterol (HDL) while decreasing bad cholesterol (LDL)

(references: MayoClinic.com; Georgia State University, Department of Kinesiology and Health)

Tips for beginning an exercise routine or getting back into working out again:

1. Start slow! If you haven’t run in a few months, don’t try to run 5 miles at the fastest pace on a treadmill Day 1. Work up to your fitness goals so that you don’t overkill your body or put it in shock. You don’t want to injure yourself.
2. Stretch! When I’m in a time crunch, I only stretch after I exercise, but many fitness experts recommend stretching before AND after exercising to better prepare your body for activity. It also helps make muscles leaner.
3. Take it easy with the weights. If strength training or weight lifting is going to be part of your exercise regime, don’t start lifting 50lbs right away. When working with weights or weight machines, safety is key. It is easy to get hurt if you underestimate your limits or don’t know how to properly use a machine.
4. Get a personal trainer. This can be an expensive tip but if you can afford it, try it out. Personal trainers can not only teach you how to do certain exercises and how to correctly operate machines but they can cater the exercises for your body and fitness goals.  (You can get one for free at the YMCA)
5. Bring variety and FUN into fitness! Work out with your iPod, make an exercise playlist to keep you energized or bring a friend with you every now and then. Walking on a treadmill every time you exercise gets really boring very quickly. Work out outside of the gym once in a while. Go swimming, hiking, dancing (at a party or take a beginners dance class), play basketball, run around with your kids or young family members. I’ve learned that if you’re not having fun with it, the motivation will fade faster than you can say quadriceps.
6. Spoil yourself! If you reach one of your goals, reward yourself. Do something you love but have been putting off for whatever reason, buy something for yourself, get a massage, treat yourself to a day of relaxation, come up with little (or big) ways to keep yourself motivated and excited about your goals.

Rox

Work Monday through Friday 9-5, go out Friday and Saturday nights, sleep in Saturday and Sunday mornings and run errands or do chores all day Sunday to prepare for another Monday. If this sounds like your weekly schedule, this post is for you.

I just returned from a weekend away in Northampton, Massachusetts for graduation. I know it’s not a wild and crazy excursion to Vegas or a peaceful trip to the beaches of Miami or Puerto Rico, but it was necessary. Thinking about my trip and all that I’d taken in from being around friends and a different environment made me realize how important it is to change it up every once in a while.

I know plenty of people (including myself at times) who get caught up in the routine of life. We end up doing the same things every day, having the same “small talk” at work or school, eating the same thing for breakfast, talking to their spouse/partner at the same time each day and night, going home the same route. Point blank, it gets tiring and boring and this repetitious life can drain one’s energy.

One simple, easy and for the most part inexpensive way to bring more excitement, joy and fun to your life is to spice it up. Doing one thing differently in your day helps keep living interesting. Try something new, explore and you can learn more about yourself and your surroundings.

Here are some things you can try that may spice up your life:

• Try something you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t done: save up to go on that vacation you dream of, make plans to visit a cousin or close friend you haven’t seen in a while, pick up a new hobby, do karaoke or perform at an open mic.

• Next time you’re out with your girls… try out a new club or venue, or instead of going to clubs all the time, go bowling or check out a jazz lounge or new restaurant.

• Expand your musical, intellectual, spiritual or sensual horizons: give a new musical artist a chance and listen to their album, try yoga or Pilates, try meditating in silence instead of spoken prayer, check out a restaurant you’ve never been to, read a book outside of your normal genre. If you’re always surrounded by people, go out alone and if you’re an introvert or enjoy alone time, call that friend you’ve been thinking about or spend a day with a close relative.

• Change your hairstyle every now and then: try braids if you’re always rocking the straight look, or wear your hair out if you always pull it back. If you’ve NEVER cut your hair before, cut it into a new style (i.e. layers, a bob, a very short style). Speaking from experience, cutting my hair very short was a very exciting, nerve-wrecking yet liberating experience and I recommend it. I mean hair grows back and you can always rock a cute wig or weave until it does. If you’ve always worn your hair short, grow it out a little and play with some new styles, you might like the extra length.

I’m not saying you have to change or transform everything in your life but a new experience or risk taken every now and then doesn’t hurt. If we never change, we never grow. Going different places, trying new things and meeting different people allows us to get and stay inspired and excited about life. So go out and challenge yourself to uniqueness, and add small bits of variety to your schedule when and where you can. It keeps you happy and SASSY.

The Information Age, the endless amount of social networking sites, our education, careers and extracurricular activities make the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day seem daunting. We have to fulfill our responsibilities to our supervisors, professors, landlords and credit card companies and remember to set aside time for a social life and the sometimes forgotten sleep. We make sure we aren’t losing our minds in the process while checking in to see how those close to us are doing. There is a lot going on in the lives of twenty-something’s, we are finding our voices, figuring out who we truly are and how we want to live our lives, thinking of the kind of legacy we want to leave for the next generation while looking good and having fun at the same time. So, how do we balance our relationships with our self-improvement and everything else in our lives?

First, we need to forgive. When I was in college, I was stressed out about 85% of the time. I habitually procrastinated on my schoolwork and combined with my AIM and Facebook obsessions, I was almost always overwhelmed with work; not to mention my extra-curricular activities. It’s important to forgive ourselves for all those times that we put our jobs, schoolwork or other commitments and habits before friends and family. No one can change what has happened in the past so it’s best to focus less on what could or should have been done. Instead we should work on what can be done now to strengthen our relationships today. Let go of the past and look forward.

Realize that keeping in touch with people does not have to be an overwhelming task. I used to feel like I had to call my whole family every day and visit close friends all the time but realistically that is not possible. It may not be feasible to keep in touch with everyone we are close to every single day and that is okay, but every little bit counts. For instance, if you know a friend’s birthday is coming up, send an e-card, leave a sweet or silly voicemail, or make a card to give to him/her. If you know a special day for someone is coming up like an audition, interview, anniversary or the like, you can write a short note or e-mail of encouragement in between a break at work or class or give the person a call when you get home from work. Short notes, text messages or e-mails can take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes to compose and that may be all you need.

Our responsibilities are important because they pay the bills, may eventually result in credentials to add to our resumes or help us to become more intelligent, creative and fulfilled individuals. However, as humans we are meant to be around people, and meant to have and cherish our relationships. It is essential to work on being better individuals and it is sometimes necessary to set aside alone time to reflect and relax. However, a lot of what makes us better people comes from our experiences with those around us.

We cannot always know what people may be going through at any given time. A smile, thank you card, an e-mail just saying we’re thinking of someone, a few hours to just hang out or a phone call may be what is needed to give a person hope or make him/her feel special. And who knows, we may feel better after doing one of those things. We can be successful, SASSY and have great relationships, sometimes we just have to make time for it all.

-Rox