We made it to another Motivation Monday, but this one comes in the midst of full-blown hustle and bustle time.  I’ve already reminded you about the importance of keeping exercise and healthy food prep on your holiday to-do lists. Today, I’m here to remind you about another crucial factor in staying healthy: be sure to keep up with those preventive checkups.

I recently saw my dermatologist for my annual mole check. As a fair-skinned, light-eyed Italian gal with lots of moles from head to toe, this has been an annual and sometimes bi-annual ritual since around the time I turned 30. More often than not, a suspicious mole is scraped and sent to a lab for a biopsy. I’ve always received the all clear, but sometimes only after a second scraping of the  area in question after some abnormal cells were detected. That’s what happened after this last checkup. So while my doctor assured me there’s no reason to panic, he does want to excise a bit more of the area for further testing and just keep an eye on it extra closely at my future checkups. I will see him again at the end of this week. Then I can move on and enjoy my Christmas without this extra “thing” on my mind.

Listen, I know how ridiculously busy life can be. However, if there’s a choice between getting a manicure and getting a mammogram during your only free hour of the week, choose the test. My friends who are moms sometimes tell me how they’re long overdue to get to the gynecologist for a checkup, but they haven’t been able to fit it in with all the “stuff” going on with the kids. I tell these amazing women they need to find the time to take care of themselves so they can continue to be there for their kids.

I realize there are only eight days until Hanukkah and 17 days until Christmas. So between working, shopping, baking, gift wrapping, card writing and party-going, this may not be the ideal time for a trip to the doctor’s office. However, if you know you’re due for a checkup or follow-up with one of your health care providers, why not put a 10-minutes aside to make a simple phone call and schedule an appointment for January. (Many doctors offices today even give the option of scheduling your appointments online.) Consider it one of the easiest ways to kick off the New Year with a renewed gusto to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!