The end of the year often makes us reflect upon the passing of the year. This is also the time where we set resolutions for the coming year. For instance, I endeavour to burn off all the extra calories and kilos that I have accumulated from the December birthday bingeing. 

It can be daunting, though, when your list of New Year's Resolutions is as long as your Xmas shopping list (!) In addition to the post-holiday slump, not starting your resolutions early in the year makes it even harder to keep to them. Notwithstanding, it is important to remember that the New Year is not meant to be a catalyst for sweeping character changes. It is really a time for us to reflect on our past year's progress, as well as our behaviour (or lack of it), and then decide on specific positive lifestyle changes. Setting small, attainable goals can help us reach whatever that we strive for.  In a way, it is not the extend of the change that matters, but rather the recognition that we want to make a change, and then working towards it, one step at a time. 

Hence, here are FIVE steps or tips to make you with your resolutions. 
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Try to make resolutions that you can keep. For example, if you aim to exercise more regularly, schedule three or four days a week at the gym instead of seven. If you would like to eat healthier, try replacing dessert with something that you enjoy, such as a piece of fruit. In this way, you will be able to ease into your resolution without seeing it as a form of a punishment or a disincentive. 
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Undesirable behaviours develop over time. Therefore, replacing such habits with healthier ones requires time and effort. Do not get overwhelmed and that you have to reassess everything in your life. In fact, try to work towards changing one thing at a time, and perhaps choose the one that matters the most. 
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Share your intent with your family and friends. Consider joining a movement (like Wellaholic) as a form of a support to help you reach your goals. This is especially so for fitness goals, such as workouts and exercise regimes. Having someone to share your struggles and succeses with, makes your journey to a healthier lifestyle much easier. \
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Perfection is unattainable. remember that the minor stumbles and missteps that you face in the attempt to reach your goals are completely normal and alright. Do not give up completely just because you ate a tub of Ben and Jerry's and broke your diet. Resolve to recover from your mistakes and then bounce back. 
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Getting help from those who are behind you will help strengthen your resilience. Try to be open to seeking professional help when needed. Knowing when to ask for help takes a great deal of courage and strength. 

​In any case, making resolutions in the new year is better than not making any resolutions at all. I strongly encourage you to take some time to run through what you would like to achieve in 2017! Don't let the year zoom past without a set of goals or targets!! 

Deenise’s post made me feel that it is about time for me to share a bit more about Wellaholic™.
It is never easy to start something unique and differentiated. It begets curious stares and understandable reactions like:
 
- is it a hobby?
- is it a MLM?
- is it a social gathering?
 
Let me clear the air. 

​Wellaholic™ was started, or rather soft-launched in October together with a bunch of like-minded individuals. Wellaholic™ was founded on a H-A-B-I-T mindset.
 
H stands for Have Your Supplements. This is premised on the fact that supplements can help us with our nutrition gaps, and at Wellaholic™, we manufacture our own brand of supplements in a FDA-certified facility in USA and ship it to Singapore. The supplements range from multi-vitamins and probiotics to joint care, and was designed together with my in-house pharmacist and doctor team. We wanted good quality supplements with a good history of value, as opposed to pseudo-supplements with dubious claims. ​

​A stands for Activities. We believe that good health must be augmented by good fitness, and an active lifestyle is essential. Hence, at Wellaholic™, we created a platform, which we call the Wellness Marketplace, where we work with passionate fitness proprietors to offer low-cost classes for our customers and everyone else. So far, we have worked with Wildfire Expeditions for Yoga, Ed Chow and Meygan Cheng for KpopX Fitness, Hardpress for Massage, amongst others. We have conducted HIIT, Tabata, Meditation classes, and they are sometimes free, sometimes only $10 for customers and $15 for the public. The idea is simple: purchase a product from Wellaholic™ and enjoy a good discount off the classes. This allows us to combine both H and A of HABIT. We are now working with Benny Lam, a National Discus Thrower to offer Core Training session starting this Sunday, and we will continue to include and work with the community to offer more classes.
 
B stands for Boost. Boost here is associated with skincare and skin treatments. Good health and fitness would be further enhanced with good skin care for greater confidence, and here comes the complexity. We wanted Wellaholic™ to also offer skin care and skin treatments. We then formulated a skin care range with our OEM based on a retinol-based range (which received very good reviews from dermatologists) and registered it with HSA. For skin treatments, we hired our own aesthetic specialists to offer both IPL (for hair removal) as well as Elight (a IPL and Radio Frequency combo).
 
This lies the complexity of Wellaholic™’s business model of bringing together Supplements, Skin Care, Skin Treatments and Fitness Classes. For every product purchase, the customers receive 10 complimentary Elight facial shots (which at market rate would have cost $30), as well as discounted wellness activities. For a $59 purchase, you get $30 worth of treatments back, $5 or more off from classes. In addition to that, you also have access to our in-house pharmacist, doctor and dietician who is always on standby to answer to your supplementation questions (and yes we have received queries on product usages, drug interactions etc.). This forms the I which stands for Interact with Experts. 

​But the most important part of HABIT is really the T, which stands for Thrive with Community. Because health or fitness goals are more reachable when you DO IT WITH A TEAM. And this is the reason to why Deenise’s post made me realise that she has succinctly put across what Wellaholic™ is trying to do – to form a community where we can thrive together, pursuing our health, fitness and beauty goals, to make the change, and then live the change.
 
As we group together as Wellaholics – whether you are a customer, a fitness enthusiast or even an instructor or a facilitator, we can then through the power of network and social media help to spread positive change. It is not a hobby, nor MLM, nor a social gathering – it is about connecting individuals and to realise the power of network to offer value to the community. If we can bring about goodness and positive change, let’s do it, and I urge you to do the same too.

Insights, everyone has them. but not everyone shares them. With every insight is an intention; an intention to be better, for that is the essence in the action. we hope that you can share with us your insights, for what is knowledge and what good is it if you do not pass it on?