The holidays are upon us once again. It seems like it only took a year to recover from last year’s health problems that were born from terrible food, plenty of alcohol, no exercise and ridiculous amounts of stress.  There’s no surprise that more heart attacks occur in December and January than any other months of the year.

Take the time this season to truly enjoy your family and friends, but follow these steps so you can live to tell about it!

‘Twas a Life By Design Christmas, and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring, I’d thrown all the grains OUT!
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

It’s time for a break from work, from school, and from the daily grind … but that much-needed time off can never be a vacation from reality, at least not without pretending that “being on vacation” means our lifestyle choices no longer matter.

The good news – there are some simple strategies that can help you have fun and, with little time and energy investment, keep up with many of your Life By Design action steps. You can turn your holiday into a health boost instead of a colossal setback!

The most important principle to understand is that Reality Exists. If something is important for the health of your body today, it will be important for your health tomorrow. It doesn’t matter whether you are carrying out your normal routine at home or lounging in a tropical paradise with the ocean at your feet.

Every morning when I was a child, my father would bound up the stairs and at the top he would say (without fail) “YES! Today is going to be a GREAT DAY!” That used to drive me crazy. Now, I get it.

See, my Dad had a reason to believe it would be a great day – he knew it to be true because he had a clearly defined purpose for his day, his week, his month, his year AND his life! In other words, he knew exactly WHY he did what he did.