With summer and my 26th birthday looming, I’ve been reevaluating my personal goals. I’ve proven to myself over the past six months that I can stay active (and be MUCH happier!) without the gym. I’ve also proven to myself that I can trust my intuition to tell me what (and when!) to eat (still make mistakes, but I’m getting better—and less stressed about it!—every day). There are a few things that I’d like to focus on this summer to help make 26 a good year . . .

1. Kicking my allergies. I’ve had awful skin (and sinus) allergies since I was 20, and take (expensive!) allergy medicine daily to make them go away. The sinus allergies are mostly seasonal, but the skin allergies really get to me—my skin is often broken out in a red, itchy rash. I’ve visited dermatologists, and they’ve told me there’s nothing I can do: I just produce too much histamine. Looking for holistic alternatives to Claritin, I e-mailed Gena, and she remarked that the allergies could be a symptom of yeast over-production, and something I could control by reducing my intake of sweet foods.

I think this is plausible for a few reasons:

* The ONE reprieve I’ve had from these alleriges in the last six years was the semester-long period that I was studying in India. During that time, I was eating a lot of plain yogurt, greens, beans, and whole grains, and not a lot of fruit or sweets.

* I feel a million times better when I don’t eat too many sweet foods, but I love them. If I made my goal for my 26th year “eat less sweet foods,” I know I wouldn’t stick with it. However, if I reduce my intake of sweet foods as a tool for getting rid of the annoying allergies, I’m MUCH more likely to do it!! I would LOVE to get to the point where I could control my allergies through diet alone (or at least know that I’d tried my hardest). I hate spending money on medicine to combat the symptoms, when maybe the problem is something I could very easily fix!

So, I’ll be thinking of ways to reduce my intake of sweet foods, and writing about it on here.

2. Making weekly yoga a priority. I’ve been doing yoga a minimum of once a week for the past four years at my current job (through a wonderful office yoga class), and now that I’m leaving my job, it’s up to me to continue the yoga habit. I love yoga, but it often gets kicked to the curbside when I’m tired, have a lot of work to do, etc. Having coworkers motivate me to go is the sole reason I’ve stayed consistent with it these past few years. And because I’ve been consistent, I’ve gotten used to that loose, limber yoga feeling, and hate how it goes away (and is replaced by an achy back) when I skip just a week of yoga! Also, yoga makes SUCH a difference in my running. Especially hot yoga. It improves my stride and endurance so much!

So, I am making it a priority to go to Yoga to the People (I’m loving their Saturday morning hot vinyasa class) or a local yoga studio once a week. I’ll treat is as an alternative to the chiropractor.

Do you set goals on your birthday?