How to Make a New Year's Resolution Stick

Dr. Robert Rountree:

This is The Thorne Podcast, the show that navigates the complex world of wellness and explores the latest science behind diet, supplements, and lifestyle approaches to good health. I'm Dr. Robert Rountree, Chief Medical Advisor at Thorne and Functional Medicine Doctor.

As a reminder, the recommendations made in this podcast are the recommendations of the individuals who express them and not the recommendations of Thorne. Statements in this podcast have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Any products mentioned are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Hi, everyone, and happy holiday. Welcome to this special New Year's episode of The Thorne Podcast. This certainly is a special time of the year. My guest this week is Dr. Jennifer Greer. She's the Director of Medical Education in Thorne's Department of Medical Affairs. Dr. Greer is a licensed naturopathic doctor and has a background in higher education as well. Welcome to the show, Jenny. How about you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Great. Thank you. I'm so happy to be here on the show today. So a little bit about me. I have a background that's clinical science and education kind of wrapped up all in one. I started out my career in higher education and then after some years working in college athletics and higher education, I decided to go back to school. I started a PhD in nutrition, exercise, and wellness, where I ran a research lab for my mentor and taught classes. And a couple years into that, found naturopathic medicine, which through my own health struggles, allowed me to circle back around to my childhood dream of going to med school and becoming a doctor. So that's what I did. And then completed residency and worked in clinical practice for several years before finding my way to Thorne, where I get to take all of those things, the clinical, the science, the education, and put it all together.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Wow, that's really a lot. I have a lot of friends who are naturopathic physicians, and it's always amazing to me, impressive, that many of them have come from other backgrounds where they had a PhD in nutrition science or exercise physiology or something like that, and they wanted to complete their training by going to naturopathic school. So it's not an uncommon career track from what I've heard.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Really, they go hand in hand. I think when you have an interest in health and wellness in any way, it really can lead straight into that. And a lot of people, like you said, have started out in something else, but they, like me, had that childhood dream where they always thought they would be a doctor, maybe their own health issues or something else in life took them away from that path and then they found their way back to it later.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Great. Well, Thorne is lucky to have you now.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Thank you.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

So let's dive into the main topic for this week, which is New Year's resolution. Something we've heard about every year, probably all of our lives. This is the time of year when people make commitments to themselves to take their health and lifestyles in new directions. Sometimes the resolutions stick, sometimes they don't. And we're here to offer our opinions, some opinions, on what makes for a good resolution and how to stick with it. So Jenny, do you have any good resolutions for the new year or is that the way you do things?

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Yeah, I actually take it from a slightly different perspective. I guess it's still a resolution, but for me, I think about it as goal setting. As the end of the year is coming along, I like to think about how has the last year gone? What did I feel maybe was missing or I would like to target in the next year to come, and then I set some goals around that and make some intentions for baby steps to start implementing it along the way and see how it goes.

For me, last year that was involving my personal community, so I wanted to build my community of friends, have stronger relationships with those friends and family. And then I was also really interested in building my professional community as well. And really you can just take some very small steps to do that. 

One of the things I did was I started interacting more professionally on LinkedIn. And so friends who would post things, I made an effort to or comment on those more. And it led to being introduced to new people, developing some new relationships, which then led to getting invited to a retreat for women in the natural products industry, out of which I now have 20 amazing new friends who are both professional and personal friends. So it really started small with one little thing, and over the year it grew and snowballed. And now as I'm headed into a new year, I'm thinking about what the next thing like that might be and how I want to set a goal for this year.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

You know what I like about what you're saying is that it's a long-term thing. It's over the year as opposed to a resolution that you're going to exercise more, and I know that every year in January, I go to the gym and it's full of people, right?

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Yes.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

In December, they weren't there, in January, the gym's full of people and you ask them why they're there. "Oh, I'm really going to do it." And then February, it tapers off, in March it tapers off. So what you're talking about is a curve that goes in the other direction. That you start slow and you build it slowly and then you have an idea where you're going to be over time. Is that correct?

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Yeah, absolutely. I think that's a great way to start it. I think when you go in too hot and heavy in the beginning, so to speak, that can really die off fast. You might burn yourself out, lose interest, or maybe the thing that you chose, for example, going to the gym, isn't quite your thing. You don't really love being in the gym, right?

So I think if you start small and think about, let's talk about exercise since that's what we're talking about, and think about in what way can I move my body that brings me joy? What do I really enjoy about moving my body? And maybe for you it's that you really enjoy going outside and going for a walk. It helps you clear your mind, it's after a meal can help things digest. And so maybe you just start with a goal of “This week, I'm going to go outside for a walk two days,” and see how that goes and then see how you feel. And then I've had patients and friends who do things like that and over the course of the year, by the end of the year, they're also in the gym lifting weights or going to exercise classes. Or maybe they have picked up a new hobby like paddle boarding or hiking or who knows, it's something completely different, but it just starts with the one small action of what is going to bring you the most joy and what would you like to do? Start there.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

And then those small steps, I know the book “Atomic Habits,” I think it's, is it James Clear that wrote that? I'm trying to think of his name, but...

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

That sounds right.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Sounds right?

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

But yes, the book I'm definitely familiar with.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Yeah, he talks about those baby steps of maybe if you did say, "I want to do something that will be fun at the gym." But you don't say, "Well, I've got to do this class." He would say, get the gym membership, and just if you really have a hard time doing something like that, just go to the front door of the gym.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Yeah, exactly.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Just show up there, look around, and if that's all you can do, then come back home. You know, what I do when I go to my local rec center is I swim as my main exercise, but when I'm coming out of the locker room, there's a bulletin board that describes all the different classes and I study them. And I think, "Well, that could be fun. Oh, there's a Latin dance class; maybe that would be fun." Or as you said, there's new sports coming along like pickleball and I mean for me, I'm thinking, well, maybe this year I'll try pickleball.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Oh, I think that's a great one. I actually took a class in college called Recreational Activities, and we learned how to play pickleball as part of that class.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Oh, wow. Well, it's really taken off by storm all over the country I think. So it's interesting to see a sport that's kind of suddenly mushroomed in popularity like that.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

It really is. And I've noticed there are pickleball clubs, so you might live in a town where there's a pickleball club and you could easily go there, learn how to play pickleball and make some new friends in the process.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Yeah. So what I hear again, you're saying is you have this idea and then you feed the idea, you nurture the idea and just see where it goes, which is really different than saying, "Well, I've got to do four exercise classes a week and that's my resolution."

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Exactly, exactly. I think it's more about that setting a goal and seeing where it goes and staying open and curious about it and asking those questions along the way. “What if I did this differently this week? Or how did I feel about the two times I went swimming this week, and what if I added a third one? Or what if I added this different thing?” And just see how it goes.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

I started out just swimming once a week and then I got the idea, well, I've got the time, I can really do it twice a week. And then when I started doing it twice a week, I started saying to myself, "I'm a swimmer." Right?

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Yeah.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

That's who I am. It's became part of my identity. And then it got to the point where I said, "Well, if I'm a swimmer, I want to be a better swimmer." And so I started swimming harder, I got better fins and hand paddles and all that sort of thing. So it just kept building on itself. And now it doesn't take any effort. I just think, well, I have to do, I don't say I have to do it because it's a must do. It's like this is who I am.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Yes, exactly. You're thinking, "I'm a swimmer. I need to go swim."

Dr. Robert Rountree:

I need to go swim. So here's a question for you. As a person trained in exercise physiology, if a person decides that their goal for the new year is to start doing more of some physical activity, is there something they should do to prepare themselves? Is there a way that they can find out more about what kind of shape they're in? What's the general planning strategy for somebody that's wanting to do that? How do they prepare?

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

That's a fantastic question, and I think a couple of different ideas on that. One is, particularly if you're really interested in getting started in the gym, maybe you have friends who lift weights or that's just something that you've always wanted to do or you think you might be interested in it. You might want to start by reaching out to your local gym and seeing if they offer any beginners classes, if they have opportunities for you to do a health assessment with someone in the gym to kind of see where you're at strength-wise, before you get started.

And a lot of times gyms will also offer to teach you how to use all of the equipment and get you in there and get started so that you are safe. And I think that's one of the biggest things that can come about for someone who has not been in the gym before and they immediately want to go in and start lifting weights is it's important to learn how to be safe when you're doing it. You can drop things on your toe, you can trip over a weight, you might accidentally leave something sitting out and then someone else trips over it. So it's a place where you have to have awareness for yourself and other people and know how to use the things that you're using so that you don't accidentally get hurt in the process.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

I have a number of clients that are CrossFit members and they love it, but they have cautioned me that you don't just go into a CrossFit class and start doing it full on, that you really got to pace yourself and really be aware of what your own limitations might be if you're a beginner.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Absolutely. And I think within that, you also have to be careful not to compare yourself to those around you. You go in and you are a beginner and you think that you should be doing what everyone else is doing because maybe you're in the same age group, but if they've been doing it longer than you, those skills, that muscle building, that muscle memory, the stamina and the intensity that they're able to do is going to be much higher than you as a beginner. So you have to be really intentional about “where am I at?” And just staying my space and improving incrementally from where I'm at, not comparatively to someone else.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Are there any things that a person should know about their body before they take on a new exercise regimen? I mean, blood pressure comes to mind as one, making sure that they don't have hypertension, etc. Are there other things that they either should find out for themselves or maybe if they're going to consult with a physician that they should say, this is what I want to know about me?

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Yeah, absolutely. So along with blood pressure, I think you also need to be aware of your red blood cell health. Women especially, but also as we age, both men and women are more at risk for anemia as they're producing fewer red blood cells, and that can lead to decreases in exercise tolerance. And the last thing you want is to be out there exercising and get lightheaded or dizzy and then potentially fall or pass out. So that's a good one. Understanding your blood sugar regulation, and if someone is diabetic and they go out and exercise, exercise does affect how your body uses blood sugar, and that could lead to maybe a necessary change in medication or closer monitoring around what you're eating around your exercise. So those two along with blood pressure, I think are probably the top three that you really should check with your doctor about before you get started and then make a plan to get started from there.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

So everyone should probably be familiar with how their body handles glucose. That's kind of what you're saying, is even if they're not overweight or have obvious risk factors for diabetes, it seems like it's become so common in our society that most everyone should have an idea of where they fall on that kind of risk curve.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Absolutely. And not only that, knowing before you get started can then help you to see how the exercise you've implemented is benefiting your body and the way it uses sugar for energy over time. So you could potentially even use that as a motivational tool because you're seeing, here's where I was when I got started. Now here I am six months later or a year later, and all of my lab work looks so much better and my body's managing blood sugar and insulin way better than it was before.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

I do see a surprising number of healthy-looking athletes at the gym that have continuous glucose monitors on their shoulder. So when those things first came out, they were really an amazing step forward for management of diabetes.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Absolutely.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Because instead of having to prick your finger multiple times a day, you just looked on your phone and it would tell you, well, this is my blood sugar now. This is what happened during the night. So what do you think about the use of these monitors for people that are healthy? Do you think they're giving helpful information?

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

I'm a little bit mixed on that. I think that they are giving helpful information that is good, but I think for some people you can become a little bit too fixed on what those readings are showing constantly, and that could have the potential to lead to some actually less healthy eating patterns where you're not really allowing yourself to eat the full spectrum of nutrients that you need because you're limiting just based off of what's happening with that continuous glucose monitor. And so I think that they give great information and they can help you manage, okay, before exercise, here's where I'm at, after exercise, here's where I'm at, before and after meals. And then you can start to see those combinations and how you can optimize them over time. I just don't think it should be the end all, be all of every choice you make in the kitchen.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

I hear what you're saying, because people can get obsessed with the numbers.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Exactly.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

They can worry that things are worse than they are. I think one observation we've had from putting these CGM monitors on people is that most of us do get occasional spikes in our blood glucose, even if we're super healthy.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Absolutely

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Right. So if a person gets one of these monitors, which are now available for direct purchase, you don't have to go to a doctor anymore to get something like the Stelo or the, I don't know what the one from Abbott is, but the Dexcom is called the Stelo, and they're marketing it directly to people. So as physicians, I think we're going to have to expect to see more people calling us and say, "Oh my God, my blood glucose went up to 180. Does that mean I need insulin? Am I diabetic?" And you're saying, well, not necessarily. When people start doing self-testing of all types, they're probably going to find things that initially might seem alarming, but maybe not so. Right?

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Exactly.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Maybe not so bad. And don't obsess about it is what you're saying.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Right, exactly. And know who to ask questions to because things are going to come up, especially if you're doing self-testing, where you're going to have questions and things are going to look differently than you expected. And so having a good relationship with a health-care provider, a dietician or nutritionist, someone you can take those questions to who can help you understand them, and the nuances around that. I mean, that's the thing with all sorts of blood labs, right? There are nuances. It's never just black and white with anything within that. And so understanding how to take that information and really use it in a way that's going to be beneficial to you is really helpful, and having that team of people to help you get the maximum benefit from it when you do it that way.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

So since we're talking about this topic of self-testing, etc. We talked about maybe getting a test to make sure you're not anemic and maybe making sure your blood glucose is good. Are there any other self tests that you find helpful for somebody who's saying, "I have a goal for the new year, I just want to get healthy." Are there things that people who feel like they're healthy but maybe they're just a little bit concerned, are there any tests that they should look at?

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Yeah, I think there are some great ones, especially as far as home testing goes. So a lot of people are heading into a new year not feeling great because they're stressed out and they need some help with stress management, they need to better understand what their stress is doing and how it's affecting their body. And so a Stress Test that looks at cortisol levels four times throughout the day and gives you an idea of, “Is my cortisol following the appropriate curves?” Your cortisol should be high in the morning, it should then gradually decline, be lowest in the evening.

When people under a lot of stress, you can see those markers all over the place. So you might see someone who has a very high morning spike and then it will drop back down, their afternoon spike might be very, very low, and those folks might report feeling really sleepy in the afternoon, and then they get wired again in the evening, and you look and their evening cortisol has spiked back up really high. So that kind of information can help you understand how your body's managing stress and some ideas around stress management, things that you can do to help optimize your cortisol response in your body and your overall stress levels.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

So what I'm hearing is that one way you can come up with some reasonable goals for yourself for the New Year is to start with a self-assessment.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Absolutely.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Instead of just saying, "Well, I think I need to do this or that or the other." But start with saying, "Well, what's my current state?" And maybe people have more stress than they realize. They think, OK, I'm coping OK, I'm sleeping OK, maybe I'm fine. But doing something like a cortisol test could help them determine where they need to go from here, right? Well, maybe my goal based on this is to do things that are relaxing more, come up with some relaxing hobbies or things like that.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Absolutely. Or maybe you've been interested in meditation, but you just never thought that that's something that you would try out. And then say you take a home Stress Test, you see that your cortisol is not where it should be, and that then spurs you to look further into that meditation you've been thinking about already that you always wanted to try, and now you've got a great goal for the New Year, which is how can I start in small ways to experience and explore different types of meditation and find one that works for me.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

As you were speaking, I was thinking about something I heard on Dr. Peter Attia's podcast, which can be a very enlightening podcast to listen to, but in his book he talked about this notion of, “Where do you want to be when you're at a certain age?” Maybe you're saying now, “Well, I feel pretty fit, I can lift things, I can walk,” etc. But he says, “Well, if you want to be at a certain level, when you're say, 100 years old, if you made it to be 100, what would you like to be able to do?” Well, it might be something basic like walking up the stairs with a bag of groceries. Right? Well, if that's the case, then where do you need to be when you're 40 or 50 to achieve that goal when you're 100? Which that's really in keeping with what you're talking about, these long-term goals. So a person may initially say, “Well, I feel fine now, I don't have any aches or pains and my energy's good.” But you may learn something from self-assessment if you say, “Well, how am I set up for the future?”

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Absolutely. And I think that that long-term quality of life and thinking about how we want to feel as we age, how we want our bodies to work as we age, is the best way to set your goals for now. So when you're thinking about how do I eat? How do I exercise? What's my sleep like? What's my stress management? And then how is that not just benefiting me today, but setting me up for long-term success for the best quality of life that I can hope to have as I age.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

So do you think if a person is doing that self-assessment and they start looking at their diet, is that generally something that you recommend that people do on their own, or do you tend to say, “Hey, it would be smart for you to see a naturopathic doctor or a nutritionist?” Is that something that you'd recommend for a healthy person?

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Yeah, I think that's a great idea, even for a healthy person. I think that the nutrition education that we get in school is pretty small for the average person. And so most people eat the way that they grew up eating even as they move into adulthood. And for some people, they may still feel great as they age eating that way, other people may not. And so to really understand nutrients, food, how you can put together an optimal diet for health and longevity, working with an expert, whether that's a naturopathic doctor, a nutritionist, dietitian, a functional medicine practitioner with nutrition training, that can set you up for long-term success because it gives you a better understanding of nutrition in general, how to pick foods, what to look for, maybe even how to pair certain foods together so that you're getting that optimal health.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

So one thing I might add to that, because I think that's a fabulous idea, is that sometimes I have patients come to see me for the first time and they're on a bag of supplements, and I go, "How did you get on this program?" Well, “I heard a mention on a podcast of this supplement or that supplement, and so I just started taking it and now I'm doing more and more and more.” And what I think you are getting at is that it might be helpful to actually talk to someone about the program that you're on and say, "Well, maybe you need this, more this, less of that." A person that's really educated in this and skilled in it can help you hone that down.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Absolutely. And that's expensive to maintain a huge bag of supplements over time. I think what we have to remember is dietary supplements are meant to supplement the diet. They are to help bridge gaps or to add nutrients where you need them in areas that might be missing. And so most people, even if they eat the healthiest diet imaginable, just because of modern farming practices, we live a busy modern life, it's difficult to make sure you're getting every nutrient in. But if you can start with food and building around that and then adding in strategically dietary supplements to supplement your diet, right, then that's also going to save you money in the long run.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Terrific. Well, those are all very insightful pieces of advice. We're going to take a short break now, and when we get back, we'll take in some questions from our audience and see where we can go with this.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Great.

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Dr. Robert Rountree:

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And we're back. So now it's time to answer some questions from the community. Our first question this week comes from a listener who asks, "Hey, I want to focus more on my health and nutrition in the new year, but I'm also very lazy. What are the best, simplest resolutions that will get me the most impact for the least effort?" So this person doesn't want to try too hard and get the highest chance of success. So where do you get the most bang for your buck from resolutions?

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Oh, I love this one. Well, I think especially for someone who feels like, "You know what? I am not going to go out and exercise a whole bunch, but I need to do something for my health." Well, you probably also need to relax because a lot of people are staying busy all the time. They are not taking enough time to really rest and recharge their bodies and their minds. And so you could embrace the lazy, so to speak, and set your goals maybe around sleep. So maybe your New Year's resolution will be making sure you get to bed by 10 p.m. every night. Studies show that going to bed around the same time every night results in not just longer sleep, but better sleep quality as well. And that can be a great way to just embrace the lazy.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Great. I was just thinking about a patient of mine that, nearing retirement age, and his blood sugar was going up, his weight was going up, and I said, “Well, you need to exercise.” And I had the sense underneath it all that he just wasn't that interested. He didn't like exercise, and I think that's what this person is saying, “I don't like to move,” maybe. And so I just kept planting seeds and planting seeds, and then he retired and he still wasn't exercising, and I kept planting seeds. And then one day he comes in and he goes, "I've discovered golf."

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Oh, perfect.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

So I think golf, I hate to say it, but it's a good exercise for people that don't like to exercise.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Agreed.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Right? Because you walk around and you hit the ball and then you stand there for a while. So I would say for a person who says, "Well, I'm lazy." Well, again, don't say, "Gee, then I need to do something really vigorous. I need to start doing high-intensity interval training." But even the person that feels like they're lazy, they're going to have something that's fun, something that they enjoy. I think that's what I hear you saying.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Yeah, agreed. I actually had a friend who a couple of years ago decided that she wanted to learn how to skateboard and you're having to use core strength on a skateboard, you're having to work on balance. It sounds like an easy thing, and you're riding a skateboard, so it doesn't maybe sound like much activity, but you could spend an hour outside before you know it just trying to learn how to catch your balance on a skateboard.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

So again, you're saying there's got to be something that you would find to be fun and even if you're feeling kind of lazy, if you liked it enough, like this guy went out and played golf and said, "Hey, this is cool." And all of a sudden he's walking. Well, he didn't want to walk around the neighborhood, right? I kept saying, "Just walk around the block. You don't have to do a lot of..." Well, he couldn't do it right, and then he discovers golf, and boom, he's into it.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Absolutely.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

That kind of segues into the next question, which I think is part of the same concept. The person says, "I always set resolutions, but they tend to be really big, like I should lose 20 pounds or I should run a marathon. And then I feel like giving up because they're too hard to stick with. How can I set more realistic goals without losing my motivation?"

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Yeah, I love that. And I think this kind of goes along with everything we've been talking about so far, which is starting with small goals and then letting those small goals balloon into bigger ones over time. So as you get a little more comfortable with the small change that you made, then you will naturally start to want to add other changes as well. I've seen this many, many times with patients where we just started with maybe a small dietary change. “So let's work on drinking more water every day.” And then over time when they have a day where they don't drink much water, and they noticed that they felt bad that day, and then the next day they went back to drinking water, well now, "Oh, OK, I like this. So I'm drinking more water. I notice on the days I drink more water, I feel better. So what could I try next?"

And then you can add to that. “OK, well let's try increasing the amount of fiber in your diet. So let's try focusing on some more fresh fruits and vegetables, a little bit with each meal and seeing how we can get some more fiber in your diet that way.” And then they start noticing, "Hey, bowel movements are a little more regular, feeling a little better with this fiber in my diet. I'm feeling full more between meals. I'm not getting hungry as quickly." And those small goals add up over time and really lead you into that big one. But I think it's, think about what your big goal is, sure, but start it from a place of, “What can I do today that doesn't feel daunting, that feels kind of easy?” Start implementing that and let it build.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

That's great advice. I think one thing I might add is that if you tell yourself, I need to lose 20 pounds, then I might say, “Well, what would be realistic for a timeframe for doing that, right? How about you set a timeframe that's way out in the future? In five years, I'd like to lose 20 pounds.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And then the cool thing about that too is when you lose weight slowly over time, you're more likely to keep it off anyway. So just yeah, be realistic about it.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Be realistic. So the next person says, "It feels like a lot of things I like to achieve are out of my control, such as I want to travel more, I want to earn more money, I want to find the love of my life. Is it worth setting these as resolutions knowing that they're out of control,” according to this person, “even if they may fail?” Right? So should they still have those concepts out there or what should they do around those things?

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Yes, I think that you should, but again, you've got to think about it in a different way. And I'm going to take the travel more one here because I personally love to travel. I'm a travel girly through and through, but that doesn't mean that I am going on four international trips a year. That means that I start small. So sometimes for me, travel is on the weekends, once or twice a month, I will meet up with a friend for a hike. Well, I live in a part of Los Angeles that's about an hour away from Griffith Park, and I have one friend who I meet in Griffith Park once a month, and we get coffee, and we go for a hike and we spend some time together and it's fantastic. That's a small bit of travel. And then I have another friend who lives further out of the city, and we might meet in the national forest for a hike. That's travel. That's a small little day trip, but it's a little bit of travel. 

And so you can start with these really small little things, let them build over time. Maybe you want to include a couple of times a year going to see family. Do you have family that live in another state or another part of the state, or do you have a friend that you've not seen in a while that lives somewhere else in the country? And then that gives you an opportunity to have a place to stay. OK, great. There's a free place to stay. To spend time with someone that you really want to spend time with, that can bring down the cost of travel, and then give you more opportunities throughout the year because you're not spending so much money on big trips.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

The person's question had embedded in it the notion that they want something that's out of their control. And what I just heard you say is maybe it's not out of your control. Maybe you have more control than you realize.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Yeah, absolutely. And again, I think that just comes down to perspective and maybe altering your perspective just a little bit. So maybe that big travel feels out of control for a variety of reasons. Financially, it might be out of control. You might have family ties that limit it or some other circumstance, but you could take that idea of travel, apply it in a different way, and do something that is completely within your control.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

So instead of saying, "I want to travel more, and that means I need to go to Fiji."

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Yes.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Maybe you can say, "I need to go to the local park after coffee with my friend."

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Absolutely.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

But that qualifies. So the person was saying, “Should I set these resolutions?” We're saying, absolutely, but have them two-fold, have the big idea, “I want to travel more,” but then have the small attached resolution that says, “Well, how about I just get out more?”

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Yes, absolutely.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Okay. So you could do both.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

You can definitely do both. And this is another instance where doing those little things leads to the bigger one. Because let's say you're thinking about this travel and maybe you're nervous to travel by yourself. And so if you've not taken a big trip by yourself before, going to another country alone, it is daunting. That can feel very scary. So you might need to even start with going to dinner by yourself every once in a while, and just learning how that feels. And then maybe you go out to a park or a location that's an hour or two hours away and spend the day there by yourself. And as you do those things more, you become more confident in yourself, in your ability to handle situations and travel and to navigate the things that come up, because travel is great, but things still go wrong even on the best of trips. And so little steps along the way can allow you to figure out how do you handle all of that and build your confidence for that bigger trip that you want down the road.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

So absolutely, set the resolutions, right, but at the same time, be realistic.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Yep. I think that's our message today, for sure.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

That's the message. So the next person asked, "I want to improve my mental health in the new year, but I'm not sure what kind of resolutions would help with that. Do you have any recommendations for resolutions that are about mental health?"

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Oh, so many. There's so many things that you can do to support your mental health. And again, I think this is one of those things where, like with exercise, you need to figure out what you enjoy versus what you don't enjoy. Because what you enjoy, you're going to stick with. For example, I have been told many, many times to start journaling. I just don't enjoy journaling. And so I am never going to stick with that. I do it from time to time, but it's not my everyday stress management skill. For me, I have two kind of everyday ones. One for me is exercise, even if that just means going outside for a walk, getting out in nature a little bit. The other one is I have a breathing meditation that's just breathing exercises that I do, even if just for a few minutes. And so you can find something that works for you.

I think deep breathing exercises is a great place to start. Try it, see if you like it. If you don't, try something else. There are meditation apps, which are fantastic, right? You can download those. They will guide you through a meditation, if you're interested in that. Just getting out in nature is great for stress management. So maybe you live somewhere where there are parks nearby, or maybe you live in a rural area, but you don't spend much time outside. Go spend some time in your backyard. Just get your bare feet on the ground if you can and enjoy a little nature. That's a great stress management tool as well.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

So all these recommendations are for the person that says, "I can't do that. Things are out of my control." And you're saying no, that is almost never actually the case, that things are out of control, that you really do have much more control in your life than you realize. So you're hearing it from the expert, folks. Here's a good way to approach the New Year.

So folks, that's all the time we have this week. Speaking for everyone at Thorne, we hope you have a fantastic New Year. Thanks for listening to the show, and thank you, Dr. Jennifer Greer, for podcasting with me today.

Dr. Jennifer Greer:

Thank you so much. It was so great to be here.

Dr. Robert Rountree:

Thanks for listening to The Thorne Podcast. Make sure to never miss an episode by subscribing to the show on your podcast app of choice. If you've got a health or wellness question you'd like answered, simply follow our Instagram and shoot a message to @ThorneHealth. You can also learn more about the topics we discussed by visiting Thorne.com and checking out the latest news, videos, and stories on Thorne's Take 5 Daily blog. Once again, thanks for tuning in and don't forget to join us next time for another episode of The Thorne Podcast.