Health Wise: Stepping into Healthier Habits (with Tiny Steps)

This winter felt like a long one, but summer finally feels close. Michigan weather can be temperamental and it can take quite a bit to start to feel optimistic. It seems the time to be optimistic has arrived. With this increased sunshine and warmth, comes an opportunity to re-visit any goals you’ve set for 2025, and to solar charge them!

What’s something you planned to handle this year, but you have fallen behind on or set aside? Health? Creativity? Cleaning and organizing? Job or education changes? This is a great time to start accomplishing what you hoped to for 2025 before the halfway mark, so come June, you can pride yourself in still having another half of a year to keep going with the positive changes!

Let’s talk about how to start, re-start, or jump into new goals in the easiest and healthiest way possible - with tiny, hard-to-fail steps! You likely have heard the Chinese proverb “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” - Lao Tzu. You’ve also probably heard of tiny habit/tiny goals before, from us and from others. Psychologically, tiny changes are an excellent way to take the first step, no matter how small, which we swear is about half the battle anyway! This is particularly true for anyone who experiences difficulties with anxiety, ADHD, depression and low motivation, among other things. A new task or challenge can feel so big, that you may put off starting it for fear of the exertion, failure, or just not trusting that you have the time or resources to take it on.

Here’s the breakdown:

1. Clarify. What behavior do you want to increase or decrease? Ask yourself - when I check in with myself in December, what do I hope to have accomplished? What would an ideal life look like, and what action steps could I take to achieve that life? Keep in mind, adding things in tends to feel easier than removing stuff. Like if you’re trying to stop a negative habit, try increasing a positive one to replace it. For example, drink more water or eat more fruits, if you’re trying to drink less pop or eat less sweets.
2. Make tiny steps. Something that takes a minute or less, ideally. Such as taking a sip of water, quickly putting something away or wiping a counter, or doing 5 squats/sit ups etc.
3. Anchor it to something you already do. For example, drink water right after brushing your teeth, or when you first wake up, do a few squats or lunges in place while you brush your teeth, fill out your calendar while you’re already using your phone or computer for something, making a journal entry or doing a meditation anytime you stand in line, or walk around while you make phone calls. Multitasking mean no extra time is spent, so there are less excuses, and tying new or healthy behaviors to preexisting behaviors creates habits through memory and association.
4. Add reminders and prompts. Set smart reminders (Google/Siri/Alexa etc) and calendar events, alarms, and good old fashioned post it notes in places you’re bound to see them.
5. Celebrate the tiny and large victories. At the end of the day, evaluate what healthy habits you added in, and each week, explore what you’ve done and ask yourself to do the same, and maybe a tiny bit more, each week.

We love tiny things - puppies , babies, collectibles. Tiny habits are the best ways to add to and adjust behaviors, with the ripples becoming ways of change.

Let’s spring into action and get going on our goals!

More News from Saline

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• Saline Community Fair to be held August 27 - 31, 2025 Planning for the Saline Community Fair is a year round process. The fair board members are excited about the 89th Saline Community Fair and invite everyone to save the dates.