In part one of our New Year,  New You feature in last week’s inSide Drumheller, you will have hopefully found a few ideas to get you started on becoming a healthier person and what is available in the valley to help you achieve this.
    This week we are looking at ways to improve your mind and spirit, would it be spending more quality time with the family, getting out of debt, being more organized, bettering yourself or having more fun. 
    The key to success is looking at what you really need to improve, tackling one area at a time, and stop proscrastination:  do what you need to do and do it now, set some time aside in your busy schedule to free yourself from this burden.
    In the valley, you will find plenty to help you on your way to bettering yourself and your quality of life.
    Learn something new: this will open your horizons, help you forget about your busy life, make you feel good about yourself, improve your confidence and your mental health too.  In the process, you will meet new people and it might even help you get a better paid job!
    The Drumheller and District Further Education council offers an array of courses, from learning a new language, to cooking classes, improving your computer skills, finding or developing a new hobby, for instance photography.  There’s even a course on public speaking and confidence.
    If you are unemployed, you may even be able to get assistance, Annette Nielsen, program co-ordinator for the Drumheller and District Further Education told inSide Drumheller, “we work together with MH Enterprises and Alberta Immigration to help finance people to get their education and start their career.”
    Join the library and make time to discover new authors.  Did you know you can reserve books online via the library system and have access to 153 libraries?
    Start a blog: it’s free, easy to set up and a great way to explore subjects you want to, it can also be a way to keep in touch with those people you have meant to contact for some time. Even the Mayor of Drumheller has one, so what are you waiting for?
    Learn to play a new musical  instrument, or create a band with friends. Concentrating on music is a great way to forget all your problems, it’s like taking a little vacation, and you will get a great feeling of accomplishment.
    Learn a new board or card game, with your family or friends, a cheap, easy way to relax while learning a new skill. Why not play scrabble with your kids?  A perfect way to have family fun and improve literacy skills.
    Have a culture day where you and your family or friends visit all the museums and art galleries in the valley, find out about Drumheller’s history, and discover new artists.
    How about trying quilting? Not only do quilts make a wonderful personal gift but it is also a great way to socialize,  Bit’s and Pieces offers several options to get you started.
    As well as offering classes, you can drop in anytime you want for advice or help and they also run a free social evening on Wednesdays.
    Tara Semchuk, owner of Bit’s and Pieces explains why people may want to try it, “People get personal satisfaction out of it, some prefer to work on their project at home in solitary and find it relaxing, others like to come and sit in to do their projects and the socializing and meeting people and learning new tips and techniques.” 
    Bit’s and Pieces is also involved in Victoria’s Quilts whose mission is to provide handmade quilts to people with cancer in Canada at no cost to the recipient. “We have had lots of feedback on the comfort that people have got from the fact that complete strangers care about them” explained Tara.
    As you can see the advantages of learning something new are many.