#140: 2022 and a New You
Happy New Year!
I like to take the time at the beginning of the year to think about where I am going on purpose. A lot of times, we feel that life is just happening to us, but that is not the case. We are all living the life that we ourselves have created.
Take a minute to look back over 2021 and be thankful for all that you were able to create in your own life. There is one accomplishment in 2021 that I am most proud of (see #3 below). But, there were tons of accomplishments along the way as well. Celebrating your wins is part of living a full life. You put in the work to accomplish them, so don't hold back on giving yourself the credit you deserve. Here are 3 of my wins from this year:
- 2021 marked my 20th year since graduation from Optometry School. It's hard to believe I have been an optometrist for 20 years, and it feels good to know I have all of that experience to pull from. It was also the year that my youngest daughter graduated from Kindergarten.
- I was invited to speak at the first in person meeting of my state optometric society at their Spring meeting. I gave a 2 hour lecture on the 2021 Ocular Surface (that's doctor speak for dry eyes) Update.
- And 2021, marks the year I was appointed to the Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society (TFOS), Lifestyle Workshop. I know you have heard me reference TFOS DEWS II (Dry Eye Workshop 2) in the past. This is the report that clinicians use as a guide when treating their dry eye patients.
The new report, which will be released in 2022, will cover how your lifestyle habits effect dry eyes. There are ten subcommittees of this report. Each subcommittee will compile all of the research done in their section over the past 10 years and analyze it. From the research, they will come up with recommendations as to the effects of the lifestyle condition and how to mitigate it's effects to control the dry eye symptoms. It will cover everything from the pollution in the air around us, to elective surgical procedures, to the foods we put in our bodies.
The study will be looking at how all of the things in our lives effect this disease we simply call: Dry Eyes. It is such a simple term for something that is complex. Dry eye is not as simple to treat as lowering our blood pressure when we have hypertension. I'm sure you all know that simply adding artificial tears to your dry eyes, doesn't make the problem go away.
My role in this Workshop is on the Public Awareness Committee. I will be sharing the results of the study with you, my fellow colleagues, and other dry eye suffers. In this blog, I will take 2022 to focus on the changes in your lifestyle that can make a big impact on your dry eye disease.
Usually, at the beginning of the year, I like to review a few books that have helped me make changes in my life. So, in 2022, let's review a few books that can help with changing lifestyle habits:
BOOK #1: The Power of Habit: Why We do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
This is awesome book that explains how to change your life by simply changing your habits. There is a bit of hard science in here to illustrate the way habits are formed and how to go about forming new ones. If you're interested in taking a deeper dive, you can grab it on Amazon here.
I highly recommend giving this one a read to make the changes you are eager to make in your lifestyle. On a personal note, I feel I almost know the author. He was a classmate of my college roommate when they were going to Business School at Harvard University. She has always spoken highly of him.
Book #2: The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom by Dallas Hartwig and Melissa Hartwig Urban
This book as a great starting place for anyone who is trying to alleviate their dry eye symptoms by making alterations to their diet. It starts by having you eliminate all of the foods which could cause problems. A lot of foods tend to be pro-inflammatory in the body.
Eliminate them all from your diet for 30 days, then slowly, you can begin to re-introduce them. Listen to your body to see how you react. It is an incredible system that gives you the power back over the food that nourishes the body to work properly. Find out which foods aren't giving your body the best fuel and know how to handle them in the future. Check out the book here.
And, once the TFOS Lifestyle Workshop is complete. I will share the specific recommendations on which foods fuel your body to make good tears. And, which foods feed the inflammatory cascade leading to more dry eye symptoms.
Book #3: Alleviate Dry Eye: Your 8 week plan to restore healthy eyes and clear vision by Pamela Theriot
You know I couldn't leave this book out of your reading list. If one of your goals in 2022 is to get relief from your dry eyes, then this book is a great place to start. Check it out on Amazon.
Follow along the path and tackle your dry eyes. The book takes you through a process of eight weeks where you can go through each step chapter by chapter. Not only will you find out how to treat your dry eye, but there is a downloadable workbook as well. The workbook helps you keep track of the steps you need to take, your progress and even gives journal prompts where you can write about what you're thinking or feeling that week.
Use the workbook to keep track of your progress. It contains charts for you to check off when you complete the tasks. Remember that when you take care of your eyes today, your #Vision will last you a lifetime. The next best version of you is waiting to be discovered this year, in 2022.
CONCLUSION
Making changes in your lifestyle habits can bring on the biggest results. The Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society (TFOS) will be releasing a report on how our lifestyle choices affect our dry eyes later this year. As a member of their Public Awareness Committee, I am eager to share their conclusions with you. If you are ready to make some changes today, I have 3 books to help you on your journey.
- The Power of Habit - understand how our daily habits give the results we currently have in our lives and learn some tools to change those habits forever.
- The Whole30 - take 30 days to understand the effects the food you eat are having on your body. Are they giving you fuel to live your dreams, or are the bringing you down?
- Alleviate Dry Eye - follow the 8 week plan to build new habits in your daily routine to care for your eyes. Improve the health of your eyes by following some simple steps to care for them.
I can't wait to see what we can all do in 2022!
