New Year Resolution Ideas

With 2018 behind you and all of 2019 in front of you, now is a great time to challenge yourself and to push yourself to actually accomplish those New Year Resolution ideas.

There’s never been a better time to live a healthy lifestyle than right now.

But don’t just tell yourself you’re going to live healthier. Do it!

In fact, here are several great ways to kickstart your New Year and propel yourself to new potential. 

Get Outside

We spend so much time in front of screens now days it becomes a mental drain.

Just about everything you could ever want is a mouse click away, and now with smart automation moving into the homes, you can do more and more with a simple voice command. 

However, we were never born to sit around and look at screens. We were born to get outside, to run and to breathe and to sing.

There’s nothing better for your internal wellbeing than to just get outside. 

It’s incredible what spending time outside can do for you. And don’t just take a walk around the block with your headphones playing.

Unplug every piece of technology. Leave your cell phone at home and your headphones in the car. Hike that local mountain trail or the river walk. Listen to the birds chirp and the squirrels rustle from tree to free.

Even without a vacation, it’s incredible what an hour outside can do. It will also show you what you’ve been missing while allowing your mind to rest. 

Give Back

There are all kinds of ways to give back to the community and it’s a great New Years resolution idea. Often times, it is almost more rewarding to give back than to receive, you just need to find the right outlet for giving back. 

What is your passion? Perhaps you love painting, or playing basketball. You can help at the local community center coaching youth basketball or by teaching watercolor painting.

You can work at the pet shelter or spend time at local retirement communities. You don’t need to do the same community service as others.

During the holiday seasons many charitable locations receive an abundance of help. Soup kitchens have more help during this time of the year. It’s the rest of the year most volunteering drops off. 

So share your passion. It’s truly amazing when you see your passion affect others in a positive way. The way your tutoring in drawing can help a child when it finally clicks.

You may not know it, but the good you’re doing now can assist these people for the rest of their lives. 

Travel

It’s incredible to travel. It opens you up to all new experiences and ways of life.

We don’t mean heading off on a cruise. Cruises are fine, but a cruise is the social media of the travel world. It makes it look glossy and perfect. There’s really no getting out of your comfort zone. 

Instead, book a trip where, at least part of the time, you have to rely on yourself.

You’ll learn more about yourself and what you truly are capable of when you and maybe a friend or significant other have to rely on each other.

Whether this is a trip to Ireland or to Thailand, visit a new destination you’re not accustomed to. 

Traveling increases your critical thinking skills. For some it is a nervous experience.

The thought of being in a new destination can be a bit frightening. But chances are some of the best experiences in your life were when you were most nervous.

When you come out stronger than when you started, you will be very happy. This New Years resolution idea will be very rewarding!

So what kind of trip have you always wanted to take? Maybe you’ve wanted to go to the Galapagos and swim with the turtles. Or perhaps you’ve been hearing good things about Iceland, or would like to see the Great Wall of China. 

Identify a location you want to visit and start planning.

Whether you peg your trip for the halfway point in 2019 or the very end, it gives you something tangible to look forward to. You will have the time to put some money away for the trip and even practice the new language.

It’s amazing what a single upcoming trip can do for your wellbeing and your spirit.

In fact, one study found that three days after vacation, travelers felt well-rested, less anxious, and in a better mood. And these improvements didn’t disappear when they returned home, they lasted for weeks afterward.

Plus, learning a new language (you don’t have to plunk down the money for Rosetta Stone as there are great apps such as Duolingo available for free) opens up new parts of your brain that you haven’t used in a while.  

Work Out

If you’ve been going to the gym for a while you’ve probably fallen into a comfortable workout routine. There’s nothing wrong with that, but why not focus on working out a new muscle group?

Even if you’re in great shape and happy with how your body looks, target a different area. This way, you can get back to seeing changes within that area of the body. 

Chances are, you remember how exciting it was to see developments in your body from your diet and exercises.

Maybe it was seeing the splits in your delts where your muscles were starting to show more predominately, or maybe it was the ability to see new veins that really motivated you. 

Well, if you’ve been in the gym for a while you might not have those new discoveries any longer.

It’s time to take that back by focusing on a new muscle group. Maybe you want to work on your lower back or your hips. You can target your forearms or your calf muscles.

These might be areas that are not receiving the kind of attention other areas of your body are. 

With 2019 still shiny and new, why not break it in by focusing on improving your physical weaknesses? It’ll be a great way to start seeing improvements in your body all over again.

This is yet another great New Years resolution idea you should consider.

Cut Ties With The Bad

Everyone has something toxic in their lives. For some, it might be one or two friends who always seem to drag them down. For others, it may be staying up too late and suffering because of it the next morning.

Take a hard look at yourself and your everyday life. Then pick out what reduces your quality of life and make it one of your New Years resolution ideas to solve.

You may need to take notes for a few weeks to really find what is dragging you down. You deserve to live your best life and you shouldn’t accept the negatives.

Being around negative people will make you negative no matter how imperviously positive you think you are.

If you don’t like your job, now is a great time to start looking for new opportunities. If there’s a person who you are always there for but they’re never around, now is the time to cut them loose. 

Sometimes cutting ties with the toxic and bad can be difficult (especially when it is a person). But doing so is like a detox for your entire mind and body.

At first it’s difficult, but after a few weeks or months, you’ll feel so much better. You’ll be happy you decided on this new year resolution idea.

Try Out A New Diet

If you’ve been on the same diet for a while why not shake it up? You can always go back to your old diet if you don’t like the new ones. 

Now, it is important to not go on any of the fad diets that are not sustainable.

A diet really is a lifestyle choice. If after a few days you know you’ll never make it longer than a week than it’s not a sustainable diet. Pick a https://gymjunkies.com/weight-loss-diet-for-men/sustainable diet for your new year resolution idea.

But you can change up the kind of foods you eat, which will make your “diet” fun again.

Perhaps you can try the Mediterranean diet. Or there is even a fantastic Scandinavian diet, which is packed with seafoods, fruits and whole grains.

You don’t need to go super drastic with the diet change. It’s more about bringing new kinds of foods into your life that you haven’t had in a while. We’re not saying going from South Beach Diet to a Keto Diet, but more subtle shifts. 

Think of it like switching your workout routine. Eventually your fitness level will level off. To kick it back up you need to switch it up.

Why not do the same with your diet? If you don’t like it, just go back to the old option. But, I’m sure this new year resolution idea is one you will like!

Unplug

When you stop and think about it, how often are you actually away from technology?

Even if you’re not on a computer or watching the television you probably have a smart phone in your pocket. With the technological overload why not go on a complete detox for a few days? 

Now, you can combine your digital detox with part of your trip. You’ll enjoy this new year resolution idea thats for sure.

If there’s anything more invigorating than going on a trip it’s not having that digital tether tied to your waist.

You can even go camping for the weekend or head out to a hotel for a few days and leave the cell phone in the car. It’ll feel strange at first, but the tech detox will force you to react differently.

In one study, for example, people reading on an e-reader at night, compared to those reading a print book, experienced delayed melatonin release, took longer to fall asleep, and felt less rested the next day.

You’ll have to ask for restaurant recommendations from an actual person. Who knows, maybe instead of looking up Facebook while sipping a cocktail you’ll notice the person across the hotel bar checking you out.

It’s amazing how much is missed when so involved with technology. Chances are, after a digital detox, you won’t miss the technology at all. 

Defeat Your Excuses

Everyone in the world can have an excuse. You can make up an excuse for anything. For not working out, for not writing that book you’ve always wanted to. For not taking that trip or for trying the new restaurant.

However, an excuse is just an excuse. It is a barrier you’ve set up for yourself. In reality, “excuse” is such an ugly word, don’t you think?

When you’re saying “excuse” it means not only did you not accomplish what you set out to do, but you probably didn’t even start it. Defeating your excuses can be difficult. So how should you go about doing that?

By creating a list of reasons why the excuse isn’t valid. The flimsier your excuse seems, the more likely you will be to move past it and to actually accomplish what you set out to do. 

If you say you don’t have time to work out, you can defeat your excuse by getting up an hour earlier, or by chipping away from your nightly TV watching.

When you say it’s too difficult to eat healthy you can defeat the excuse by prepping all of your food on Sunday, or by picking up a freshly crafted salad at your local health food store.

If you want to read more but think there isn’t any opportunity to do so, why not read in the bath tub, on the bus to work, or pick up some audio books? 

You have the capability of defending just about every excuse in the book. An excuse is just the easy way out.

During the New Year, do you really want to take the easy way out? Or do you want to accomplish new things and push yourself to new heights?

Plenty of people say they want to, but then they succumb to these excuses. Want to know another way to defeat the excuses? Tell yourself you’re not going to be like everyone else.

You’re going to be your own person and you’re going to be better than everyone else. This is one of the new year resolution ideas that will make you a better person!

Conclusion

With a fresh calendar and unblemished year in front of you, you have all the opportunity in the world to accomplish these new year resolution ideas.

Don’t rely on anyone else but yourself to reach these goals.

By staying strong and focused on your own wellbeing you’ll have the capability to do just about anything you set your mind to.

You can’t be everything, but you can be anything. And the best way to become anything is to kickstart the New Year is with one of these healthy lifestyle changes. 

-Terry Asher