As you enter the new year, you might be thinking about what type of New Year’s resolutions you’re going to make. While it’s true that resolutions can be hard to keep, they can also help you bring some positive changes to your life. This year, consider making one of these life-changing New Year’s resolutions you can keep.
Try a New Hobby
Your brain loves trying new things. Not only is it nice to feel a sense of accomplishment when you learn something new, but it can also help boost your brainpower. This year, consider resolving to try a new hobby. Possibilities include trying a new fitness class, learning a new language, taking a cooking class to learn a new dish, enrolling in an acting class, or learning how to paint. If taking a class doesn’t appeal to you, consider something simple, such as reading a book from a new genre.
Do One Nice Thing a Week
If you’re looking for a New Year’s resolution that will make you feel better, commit to doing one nice thing for someone else once a week. Small acts of kindness benefit you just as much as the other person. Something as simple as texting someone some words of encouragement takes less than 30 seconds, yet it can make their day. Other simple acts of kindness include bringing a cup of coffee for a coworker, making dinner for someone, writing an email to the manager of a store you frequent about a positive experience, or complimenting someone.
Add One Healthy Habit
When you’re making your New Year’s resolutions, you might focus on the unhealthy habits you want to quit. However, an easier way to attain your goals is to think about positive habits you can add to your routine. As an example, instead of saying you want to remove all sugar from your diet, consider resolving to eat more fruit. With this resolution, you’ll get more fibre, vitamins, and minerals from the fruit, and you might find it easier to cut back on processed sugar.
Making a resolution to keep up with routine dental checkups is another healthy habit to consider since it can help you reduce your risk of developing other health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.
Put Better Food in Your Body
Dieting is one of the top New Year’s resolutions that people make. Yet they often fall back into old habits within a few weeks. This is because diets are often about deprivation instead of taking care of your body. Rather than making a resolution to go on a diet, make one to put better food in your body. This can include eating more vegetables and drinking more water. You can also make a resolution to cook at home more often. This way, you can control exactly what goes into your meal and how it’s made.
Take the Stairs
While making the resolution to exercise is great for your health, it can be hard to keep. Instead, look for little ways you can get more exercise. For example, you can take the stairs instead of the elevator. If you sit a lot during the day, you can get into the habit of standing for 10 minutes every hour to improve your health. Even just 5 minutes walking outside can help you get some exercise and improve your mental health.
Have Less Screen Time
While your phone or tablet might make certain parts of your life more convenient, it can also hurt other areas, most notably how you sleep. If you have a resolution to get better sleep this year, powering down all your screens at least 30 minutes before you’re ready to go to bed can help. The glow from screens prevents your brain from releasing the sleep-inducing hormone, melatonin. To ensure you get the best sleep possible, make a resolution to remove all electronics from your bedroom.
Meditate Once a Day
If you’re interested in improving your sleep, lowering your blood pressure, and reducing your stress, you don’t have to make separate resolutions for each one. Instead, you only need to make one resolution: meditate once a day. Devoting 10 minutes every day to meditating can have a variety of positive impacts on your physical and mental health. If you’re not sure where to begin, you can sign up for a meditation class. You can also consider setting aside a few minutes every morning to develop a consistent habit that will let you start the day in a positive way.
Even though it isn’t always easy to keep a New Year’s resolution, it is important to take strides to better your life. When we flip the calendar in December, consider making a few of these life-changing resolutions that you can maintain not only this year but for the rest of your life.
