January | 2026 | aspillingovermind

Several months back after reading some articles I began to pursue changing to a Mediterranean diet. I approached entry to this new way, as I do, slowly and methodically. I found a book that educated me on what this way of eating was, what it could do for me, and it made sense, but I struggled with committing to it.

I was able to figure out an eating plan, as the book I read gave me the breakdown of the different types of food and how many servings I should have in a week. I even made what I consider a genius tracking tool, but still I could not commit.

I tried some recipes and they were good, but then yogurt became an obstacle. This is something per the book I am supposed to eat 8 ounces of every day; I could not even get two spoonfuls down my throat without making a face at the horrid taste. Honestly how do people eat that? I was also challenged with the numerous food names that I had no clue what they were let alone where to find them in a grocery.

But I continued trying to commit; I was sure I could find another option for yogurt that could provide similar benefits, I bought a food dictionary to learn what things like ‘Faro’ are. Commitment still eluded me with each week being the same conversation “I will start on Monday.”

It was not till doing some rereading that I had my ‘aha’ moment. In every reading there was talk about it not just being about the food choices but the mindset, of enjoying the preparation of the meal and sharing the meal with others. And there it was; I don’t enjoy cooking, it is just a means to an end. I think of it more as a chore than anything else. As to sharing meals; one shared meal every 2-3 months is as good as that gets for me.

In the run up to New Year’s Day there is the constant talk of the resolutions people will make. Come mid-January the talk turns to how quickly people gave up on those resolutions. Last night I listened to a news article about how January became the official start of a new year for those who follow the Gregorian calendar. One of the next articles was about how people tend to chose to start new goals on the 1st of a year or month, all which makes perfect sense, you have to start somewhere.

This morning as I brushed my teeth I was thinking on the changes I want for my life and I recognized that I could not ‘start’ today as some of the things on my mental list require preparation. As I pondered through this, I came to the realization that I have done some preparing, however unintentionally; more on that in other posts I am planning.

The advantage that the Gregorian calendar and an excessive amount of banked vacation days provides me is four unfettered days before returning to work. My intent is to use these days to plan and have Monday January 5th be the official kick off.

Planning will include documentation of what the goal and it’s terms are. As I am firmly believe the quickest way to fail at a goal is to be too rigid, I will build in exemptions and rewards when appropriate. I also am a listophile, yes it is a made up word but I like it better than ‘an avid list maker’, so having lists to track my progress is a tool for success in my opinion.

For an awareness exercise I went online looking at articles about what goals people are planning to set for 2026. I suspected that many of my goals would not be that different than then rest of the world. Interestingly I found a whole category that I had not even considered adding, which speaks volumes to my current isolation situation; improve relationships with family and friends. In recognition of this I will add a goal of facing up to my isolation with some intensive consideration on how I got here, should I stay here, and if not what changes need to be made.