Day One. Again.

It's January 1st. Of 2016. Happy New Year!

The start of a new year always marks the start of newness: New habits, new hobbies, new promises, new efforts, new attempts, new ways of being. New Year resolutions tend to trend as the hot topic around any office or social gathering, whether or not there will be any made; if there are - what are they, and if none, why not.

With the linear nature of life, the default is usual to pick something to fix, with a change to an existing life being the focus, and move forward. With that, resolutions usually originate with a negative connotation, manifesting from a place of dissatisfaction and regret: Quit smoking, get healthy, lose weight, and so on.

Year after year we repeat the same personal commitment.

"I'll do better this year."

Ironically, one of the common resolutions is "less TV, more exercise"... The irony? It's television that adjusted my way of thinking as I embrace more exercise this year. Television is linear.

Each new season begins where the other left off, but do we ever really look back with disdain on the number of televisions seasons that have passed? Heck no! Especially with our favorites, we look forward to the next episode, and the next season. And the next. And the next, with the promise,"If they ever cancel this show, I'll...<insert something drastic here>."

For me, it's Season 40, Episode One. 1 of 365, well, technically 1 of 366 because it's a Leap Year. I get an extra day of being 39. How cool is that? The ultimate procrastination! I get to put off turning a year older, and in a milestone year! Funny how getting older causes duress to most. The feeling of getting older usually means looking back with regret and forward with fear; The song "Glory Days" by Springsteen always seems to hit home, especially for men.

Cher once sang, "If I Could Turn Back Time", and it was a hit for reason.

If I were a TV show, I wouldn't be looking back, except maybe to re-watch my favorite episodes. I also wouldn't be stressing about how many seasons I would have left. I would just enjoy the series, each episode at a time. Any critic hopes to see the story line flow in their personally preferred matter, though, with the outcome that they want to see happen. So what's my story line going to be? That's the best part.... to a degree, I do get to decide although somewhere, some how the Great Writer In The Sky (Interpret that your own way) gets their say in it, but ultimately I have somethings I get to decide. 

Today, I decided to start my first day of 2016 on the correct foot. Instead of going right for the coffee maker, I got back on track and put the lemon and apple cider vinegar on the counter.

This concoction has a ton of positive reasons to endure the acidic tangy taste. Read about daily lemon water here, and the benefits of apple cider vinegar over there. Here's where the challenge of veganism though:

How to handle the sweetener?

Cutting out dairy for my coffee is a whole other topic, but when it comes to sugar substitutes, it's a major challenge the moment I leave traditional refined sugars off the menu. This is one that has plagued me for some time now. Artificial sweeteners are a No No. Google "aspartame" and you'll get why. Personally, I can't stand the taste of stevia. So where else can I turn? Honey is the typical response.

Technically speaking, Vegans aren't suppose to eat honey. I won't get into why - you can google that for yourself. So, with honey off the List, what now? Move forward. 

The benefits, for me personally, are related directly to my gout, with secondary benefits being alkalinity, weight loss and so on.

For that reason, despite the lack of a sweetening solution this morning, I just dealt with it. Warm water, a quarter of an organic lemon (squeezed) and an ounce of apple cider vinegar. Stirred it up and sipped on it until it was finally gone. 

Unpleasant? Yup. Fortunately, I know that it's something I'll grow accustomed to after the first few mornings, and will actually come to enjoy. I'm considering trying a steeped green tea, and I'll followup.

The alternative was to fall back into my old ways and just go back to a Double Double to start the day, but that would have been giving up before I got started. Sometimes, you just need to put your head down and trudge forward. Forward on to the next episode. 

Tomorrow is another day. A new day. Again. 

In the mean time, cheers.

Happy groundhog day,

Fat Guy