The new year is almost here!
While this is a time for everyone to relax and spend time with their family, there is something looming that most people roll their eyes over- New Year Resolutions.
While most see it as a bucket list that they throw away after the first week of the new year, I see it as an opportunity to improve the quality of life I have. Its the beginning of a new journey, and every journey is determined by how willing we are to face it. There is always an opportunity to improve yourself, but this is the excuse that you can take advantage of to achieve your health and personal goals.
Whether you’re looking to workout more often or simply start eating better, here are 5 tips to help you with your New Year Resolutions!
1. Take Things Slowly
We tend to rush into things. While that may be seen as a good idea to hit the iron while it’s still hot, in this case, it is far from productive. We have all seen someone make the resolution of working out everyday. We have also seen those same people go to the gym for 2 weeks and then never again.
When we are working on our resolutions, we need to move slowly into motion. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you can’t always change everything about yourself in a day. When starting the process of following your resolutions, start making small changes. If you want to start eating healthier, start eating every meal with something healthy that’s small. Over time, you can start to incorporate more healthy foods with each week until most of the food you are eating is healthy.
When we take small steps, we get further than we do when we try to run a marathon in a minute. Give yourself time to change small things, and the bigger things will follow.
2. Get Someone To Keep You Accountable
When we start our resolutions, we tend to work solely on our willpower. What we forget is that our willpower is usually not as strong as we think it is. More often than not, our willpower is not enough.
For this reason, you need to find a buddy to keep you accountable to the goals you set. This person will be your emotional support when things feel overwhelming, and will be able to remind you why you are doing this. This person will be the shoulder that will help you up when things feel difficult, and they will be the person to cheer you on as your progress grows.
If you are not sure if the people who you are surrounded by will be good options for this task, then look to joining a club or group of individuals who are working towards the same goal as you. Remember that it’s not only okay to have someone to lean on, its needed!
3. Plan Ahead
If you are anything like me, then you probably have a tendency to rush into things. While its a wonderful thing to be enthusiastic about the tasks ahead, you need to plan. When you plan out how you are going to effectively start your resolutions or how you are going to maintain them, you end up having a higher likelihood of succeeding.
When you plan out your goals, try to work them into small steps. The smaller the steps are, the better. You don’t want to make every single thing you do to be a massive task. You should also look at the tasks in the long term, that way you’ll be able to go through the changes and tasks with greater ease.
For example, if you are wanting to get fit this year, then start working out for a few minutes every day or every second day. You will eventually get into the habit of exercising every day and then you can add more time onto your exercise routine. You first need to start doing the silly and small things so that they can compound to make a big difference. For this scenario, you will need to plan what exercises you are going to do and when you are going to do them. You will also need to plan out how much you can physically handle at a time. Are you going to use equipment or are you going to simply work out at home? Are you going to go to the gym or workout at home?
Plan ahead for these things, so that you have a structure to follow.
4. Be Grateful For The Challenges Ahead
When we make a resolution, we tend to forget how challenging it is to truly change our lives. We only see how nice it would be to have improvements in our lives.
Unfortunately, anything worthwhile tends to come with challenges and suffering of some sort. We are only human, and there will be times when we are stretched or want to give up. It is in these times that we need to be grateful, because in these times we get a moment to realize that we are moving forward. It is in the challenge that we get to know that we are moving forward.
When you are climbing a mountain, it can honestly be awful during some parts. You’re tired, in pain, and you wonder why you are doing it. But when you reach the top, all the suffering you had to endure starts to fade. In that moment when you reach the top, all the pain and suffering you endured fades, and all you feel is the joy from knowing that you were able to reach the top. You will feel the same when you finally reach the top of the mountains you are planning to face.
When you see that the challenges are a part of the journey and show that you are a step closer to achieving your goal, you will start to look forward to them. So keep your chin up!
Enjoy The Journey and Don’t Give Up If You Slip Up
You are about to go on a journey to improve your life. It is most probably not going to be easy. You will have to face things and work through them.
It is truly a privilege to experience those things and to get closer to a new you. For this reason, take joy out of every moment of it. Try to constantly remind yourself that you are better than the person you were because of this. You have the chance to finally make the dream version of yourself, and that is a wonderful thing to know.
There will also be times you slip up. Don’t beat yourself up over it, we are all human and we will all have moments like that in our lives. We all fall short at times. The main key is to get back up and try again. You have to keep moving forward, because once you start to make progress its essential to not lose it. You will always get the chance to try again tomorrow, but you only have today to start changing today. You can do this!
Now that you have a rough guideline, get ready to take the world by a storm!