my 2022 resolutions 🎉

2 Jan

I’ve always been a big fan of setting new years resolutions. I think it’s a good time to do a bit of a self-audit. A time to sit down and think about something you’d like to change and formalise it. One year I decided to not eat any hot chips. Let’s just say that was a very slow year! This year I have three main things I’m going to work on.

sun safety 🌞

Living in Queensland, the threat of skin cancer is very real. While I don’t do a lot of skin cancer medicine myself, I see plenty of people getting spots chopped out in our treatment room. So this year I am going to make a real effort to improve my sun safety and hopefully prevent too many scars from biopsies in the future!

The first thing to do is download the free SunSmart app. It has daily UV and sun protection alerts that advise you when the UV rating is over 3 when sun protection is recommended. Just because it’s not hot and sunny outside doesn’t mean that the UV rating isn’t safe. Slopping on SPF30 (or higher) broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen needs to be a daily habit, rather than just something that you do when you go to the beach.

keep an eye on posture 🧘

If you’ve seen me in person, you might know that my thinking position is not the greatest for my posture. Think legs crossed, leaning forward, shoulder rolled in and chin pushed out. This has given me very tight hamstrings and very weak back and neck posture muscles. Anyone with a similar neck posture might suffer from cervicogenic headaches.

My first step will be addressing that thinking posture! I’m going to set up my desk so it’s a little more friendly and focus on facing the computer when typing rather than trying to keep my legs crossed. I’m also going to introduce 10-15 minutes of stretching 2-3 times a week using the Down Dog app.

socialise without the booze ☕

I think it’s always important to review how much alcohol you drink. Most of us are aware of the impact it has on our health including sleeping difficulties, mental health conditions, weight gain, cardiovascular disease and a range of cancers.

Whilst I don’t consider myself a big drinker, often the only time I drink is when socialising. It’s easy to get together at a bar or by having drinks at someone’s house. This year I want to make an effort to have more events that aren’t based around alcohol.