Happy and Healthy New Year!

To the editor:
    We love the New Year! The New Year always seems to peak our interest to become healthier and happier. Plenty of us attempt to do this by making healthier food choices and fitting routine exercise into our busy schedules. The problem is, our drive tends to fade once we realize change does not happen overnight!
    Healthy Aroostook, a program of Aroostook County Action Program encourages these three strategies for exercise success: Adjusting your attitude, changing your lifestyle, creating your own personal plan and sticking to it!
    If you have the wrong attitude about exercising you’re already setting yourself up for failure. Try viewing exercise as:
• A way to boost energy;
• A break from a stressful day;
• A way to reward yourself for working so hard; and/or
• The only time all day you’ll have to yourself.
    Stay away from viewing exercise as a boring obligation or punishment for poor eating habits. Having the right attitude about exercise is the key to great success in physical fitness!
    Remember, every person is different. Set goals that are realistic for you and create your own plan based on those goals. What motivates you will change from day to day. You have to recommit your goals each day, tweak them to fit changes in your lifestyle and attitude and find new ways to motivate yourself over the course of your life.
    Even the most successful exercisers don’t always want to do it. Know that committing to a healthier lifestyle this year will require work and dedication but the results, we can assure you, will make your decision one of the best! Happy exercising!
Reegan Brown,
Community Education Specialist
Healthy Aroostook/ACAP