Compounding Goals in the New Year

The new year has come and I’m ready to take 2025 on head first. Our health is our best wealth. Without it we have nothing. Many of my mentors have constantly taught me that we can’t give from an empty cup so your number one priority needs to be your own health and well-being. As January fades and the year goes on, even my own priorities tend to shift but the first month of the year is always a good reflection and reset time. I always hear I’m willing to die for my kids, but would you be willing to live for them at 100%? 


As much as I would love for this to be true about our health, you can’t get stronger at the gym if you go once every few months. Same with eating better- if you want to reverse chronic health issues it all takes time and consistency. And sometimes this can be a roller coaster of ups and downs so be patient with yourself and your year long goals. I recently learned about compounding goals. Basically instead of making ten new goals for the new year to start working towards all at once you pick one to focus on in January- maybe that’s eating better. Then in February you add in exercising or stretching 20 minutes a day while eating better. Then in March you add in reading 20 minutes a day while exercising/stretching, and eating better. The idea is that small actions over time can lead to big outcomes. Maybe this method of goal setting sounds more manageable for your life as well. Making smaller long term changes over time allows you to form consistent changes in your life.


Making smaller longer term changes over time also applies to what I see in my office as a Chiropractor. In my profession, Chiropractic has never been only about symptom management. Although a well known benefit of chiropractic care is less pain. Some lesser known benefits of chiropractic include nervous system optimization. Do you know someone with chronic headaches? How does their cervical curve look? Don’t know what that is? Set up a consultation to learn more. Do you know children or grandchildren with chronic ear infections? Toddlers and kids are constantly moving and falling which is the most common form of physical stress but other issues could start from birth with interventions like vacuum assistance, c-section, and birth stress can cause restricted movement in baby’s upper cervical spine from the moment they’re born. 


Structural shifts to the nervous system from daily life as adults (sitting while looking down at computers and phones) or bigger traumas like car accidents and falls can cause the body to function less than optimal. These degenerative changes usually take years to form which means they also can take time to take stress off of these areas with gentle chiropractic adjustments. To fix these issues often a digital X-ray is helpful in locating and identifying how long the problem has been there and how long it may take to fix. 30 years of arthritis and degeneration is harder to work with than a teenager. Sometimes these areas of the spine need more time and repetition to change than a baby, but don’t let these issues manifest into bigger issues down the road. Just like eating healthy and exercising, corrective structural shifts to the spine through chiropractic care to improve neuroplasticity also takes time and repetition. Oftentimes, after seeing structural images we can incorporate corrective stretches/exercises to aid in the correction of the spine. 


This year, let’s try to be 1% better than we were the day before. If we focus on making smaller changes over a longer period of time we can move forward more consistently than trying to change everything at once in the month of January. Let’s make 2025 the best year yet!