As the New Year approaches, many find themselves wondering what resolutions they can make for themselves. People tend to make fun of New Years resolutions since most often than not forgotten after the first few weeks of January or never followed through.
Not many actually define what their resolution means nor do many consider what steps can be taken to best achieve that goal. Here’s a list of common New Years resolutions but modified to fit into anyone’s daily schedule.
Dieting: Many people pick dieting as one of their resolutions but fail to pick a diet that specifically fits their needs. Let go of the estranged diets health magazines advertises, and create your own diet that you know you can stick to. To begin with, pick one food, or a group of foods, that you won’t eat for six weeks. This food can be red meat (takes out a lot of fat and cholesterol), chocolate (my hardest treat to give up), bread (takes out a lot of carbs) and/or cheese (cuts a lot of fat, dairy and cholesterol). It can be a fun challenge to try. After six weeks, you may feel healthier, and you could feel more confident about continuing a diet.
Exercise: Loads of people promise themselves they’ll go to the gym after the New Year, but most often drop off after a few sessions. Instead of promising a vague consistency of gym time, choose one day a week to dedicate a spot for your physical health (yoga, zumba, cycling, mile run or elliptical). Schedules and routines are important to maintaining that relationship with your body. Rather than go to the gym sporadically, adhere to your one day a week routine, or increase it to 2-3 days if the routine works for you.
Mental health day: So many people joke the next year will be the year when their mental health will cure itself. 2018 was a rough year for me personally, so I definitely feel that. To combat those bad days, choose one day out of the week to spend time doing what you love, something you can look forward to doing, even if you’ve had a rough week. You can watch your favorite movie, watch a new movie, make a home-cooked meal, read a book or hike.
Spending time with friends or family: Set a day once a month to get coffee or lunch with a friend you may not get to see as often. Alternatively, go see family once a month if possible. Sometimes family lives really far away, but even taking time to Facetime or Skype them to catch up on the month’s happenings can be a nice refresher.
Travel: Most people promise themselves they’ll travel more, and the best way to do that is save up enough money, which is diligent enough and doesn’t immediately give reward. Just keep sticking to a budget, and reward will come to you. But even so, taking short trips to nearby places is always a great way to start exploring our community. Take a weekend every other month to go to Asheville, Knoxville or even downtown Kingsport or Bristol to find some new venues, restaurants and experiences.
