In Shape Column: Professional resolve

Published in Fort Wayne Magazine in January 2010

There’s something poetic about the fact that New Year’s resolutions come on the heels of heavy holiday feasting and New Year’s Eve debauchery.

At this time of year, it’s a little easier to feel motivated to live right. After days of cheesy potatoes and spiked cider and cookies and late nights and stress and excessive spending and a little pecan pie a la mode to take the edge off, you almost want to go to bed at 9 o’clock and wake up to chopped fruit and a jump rope.

While the memory of your last leftover ham-and-cheese sandwich is fresh in your mind and the urge to burn it off is strong, consider the New Year’s resolutions of the pros—the health professionals, that is, who make a living helping us live better.

They may have the expertise to identify healthy choices and firsthand experience with the opposite results, but that doesn’t mean they’re not always working to improve their own lifestyles.

Dr. Mark O’Shaughnessy, a cardiologist at Fort Wayne Cardiology, is board certified in both internal medicine and cardiovascular disease. He’s also a marathon runner. His resolution?

“To decrease my exercise (running) to only five days a week and to cross-train more,” he says. “Also, to stop keeping a running log, which is pretty addictive. I typically run more than I should.”

Not many of us can say that. Dr. O’Shaughnessy suggests that newbies simply add some exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes every day to their own lists of resolutions.

Marsha Worthington, a cardiology nurse for Fort Wayne Cardiology and torchbearer for America on the Move in Northeast Indiana, also suggested a resolution for the community at large: “Establish a new habit to meet your friends for an ‘exercise and talk’ vs. an ‘eat and talk’ time together,” she says. “Look for ways daily to put into practice eating less and moving more!”

Marsha has set some goals of her own, too: “To eat in response to hunger and to walk daily despite the weather,” she says.

Sally Scheumann, a nurse in St. Joseph Hospital’s wound clinic, has a weatherproof plan for 2010. “I’ve decided to dust off my Pilates DVDs and get back into a regular routine of completing those workouts,” Sally says. Her daughter Carley has decided to join Sally on her journey as coach and inspirational motivator.

Steve Smith, general manager and CEO of Allied Physicians Inc., says his first resolution is a carryover from 2009: Have more fun! And Steve does, he says, every day.

His second goal is to “read something every month other than business, economics, legal or the news—to read for pleasure instead of need-to-know.”

Steve’s resolution to read more is shared by my mom, Susan Will, a registered nurse. Mom is also aiming to sleep more, all part of her resolve to “make time for myself,” she says. I have a hard time believing this possible, knowing how my mom goes all the time, but I do hope she’s successful.

My mother also plans to exercise more and eat healthier, both of which she does well already. Biggest on her list? “I have to let go of what I can’t control,” she says, to stop worrying about things she can’t change.

Me, I’m kind of right there too. I started being diligent about sleep this year and returned to my gym-and-salads habits. I ran my first 4-mile race, and I hope to run further in the future.

But to achieve those goals and any others, I first need to let go of my need to do it all. Focus on priorities. Direct my energies. I have to give up on the idea of two or three simultaneous ventures on top of my single-mom-with-a-full-time-job lifestyle. I have to stop feeling like a failure for abandoning chase in so many directions; instead, I’m trying to feel a sense of achievement for successfully pursuing a few.

Key to the success of these resolutions and yours? Constant re-evaluation. Make a Valentine’s Day resolution. And an Easter resolution. A Fourth of July resolution. Fulfill, expand, contract or readjust your goals.

When those resolutions become routines, you’ll make room in your life to accommodate a little debauchery, spiked cider, stress and cheesy potatoes. After all, everyone likes a few cookies now and then—even health professionals.

GOOD TASTE
If you resolve to feed your family better in 2010, pack up the crew and head to the free Fueling Your Family event, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. January 23 in the Macy’s wing of Glenbrook Square. There will be stage demos, including “Are You Smarter than Your Grocery Cart?” and “Kids in the Kitchen.” And there will be interactive learning centers from America on the Move, Fort Wayne Cardiology, Lutheran Hospital, YMCA of Greater Fort Wayne, Parkview Hospital, the Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation Department, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fred Toenges Shoes, Fort Wayne Community Schools, Consulting & Counseling Services and more.