Off With the Old!

Like most people, New Year’s resolutions are one of those love/hate sort of things for me. I love self-improvement. I never feel right about myself unless I’ve evolved in some way better than I was in previous years. On the other hand I really struggle with the discipline and effort required to adopt a new habit and so my goals and resolutions often end in demoralizing failure.

What I found is that there are a lot of different schools of thought about what strategy is best to make a resolution succeed but there do seem to be a couple common threads across the board…

• The goal needs to be for you specifically rather than something put on you by friends or society. Most of the resolutions we hear about all revolve around health -- something along the lines of going to the gym more, eating better, or losing fifteen pounds. There’s nothing wrong with these goals of course but simply because culture tells you to set these goals doesn’t necessarily mean it’s something you’re particularly focused on at this time. A resolution needs to be personal. In a couple weeks it will be one year since my dad died of Alzheimer’s. Personally, it’s very important to keep mentally active, so my resolution this year is to read 50 books. I found a list of 50 books all men should read (at least according to this website), most of which are classics. This week’s book is called “She” by H Rider Haggard.  

• Resolutions fail because the goals are too vague. My goal isn’t “to read more”, my goal is to read these specific 50 books over the course of a year. Rather than the goal of “Eating better” your goal should be “Eat a salad for lunch every work day”. The latter is specific and measurable.

• You need to talk about your goals. Talking with friends and family gives you a support net which we all need. It’s really hard to adopt new habits. There’s a very good reason any addiction program buddies up and has support groups.

• If we mess up we need to give ourselves a pass. It’s unrealistic to think we can adopt new habits without any bumps in the road. To be honest I’ve already read 4 of the books on my list last year. So I have a 6 weeks’ worth of grace period built in to my plan. On the other hand Moby Dick is on my reading list. Previous attempts at reading it only got me a third of the way through it before I gave up from boredom. I’m sure there’s some action in it somewhere but that book starts out very slooooow, so I’m sure it will take more than just one week to get through it.

 
While sloughing off undesirable habits or creating new habits is difficult, sloughing off dead skin cells is relatively easy with our organic body scrubs which come in either Organic Sugar or Dead Sea salt. Exfoliation of dead skin cells is an often neglected part of our skin care routines. Exfoliation is the removal of dead skin cells from the upper layer of our skin and offers a number of benefits. Removal of dead skin cells keeps pores from clogging. Clogged pores can result in both acne and black heads. Additionally clogged pores appear larger than unclogged pores. Removal of dead skin cells speeds up the skin’s renewal process, making your skin look healthier. Exfoliating before shaving gets rid of dead skin cells that may otherwise clog your razor, resulting in a closer shave.

​We recommend exfoliating 2 – 3 times per week depending on your skin type. Our scrubs are made with Organic Jojoba and Organic Coconut oils to moisturize your face while exfoliating. We have scrubs that use organic sugar or if you want something a little more powerful try our Dead Sea salt scrubs. Either way your skin will feel clean and refreshed. Use the coupon code 2018SCRUB at marthasbathandbody.com to receive 25% off of any of our sugar or salt scrubs for the month of January.

January Give-Away
If you’d like to try a sample of our scrubs email us your address to [email protected] and we’ll send you a small sample at no charge to you. This offer is only good for the month of January. To receive our latest offers, be sure to sign up for our newsletter on our website!