I’ve always loved New Year’s Resolutions! I love the idea of a fresh start and I always felt like this was a good starting point for people who didn’t know when to begin their new goal.
On the flip side, I can also understand the annoyance that comes along with them from those who “hate” New Year’s Resolutions. The main complaint I hear is, “Well, you don’t need a new year to start something! You could start it any day!”
True, but some people actually do need a fresh new year to start.
My new year’s resolutions used to be about losing weight, as most people can relate. As I’ve gotten older and wiser (haha, maybe), I realize that I don’t want to make an entire year’s goal to lose weight! That seems too daunting.
I started focusing on health and wellness by asking myself these questions:
-What area do you want to get better in?
-What would make you feel healthiest?
-What is holding you back the most regarding wellness?
-What can you do EVERY day to become healthier?
By asking the right questions, I was able to find the right answers. I didn’t just want to lose weight, I wanted to feel healthy, move better, and sleep better. I wanted to eat food without the embarrassing bloat. I wanted to have the energy to play with my nephews and go on walks with my husband.
All of that required me to implement wellness routines into my daily life. I started with 1 habit that I implemented each day. Each morning, I got up and went outside for a 10 minute walk. The morning walk then transferred into a lunch-time walk, so I was essentially getting ~25 minutes of outdoor walking each day. I didn’t focus so much on doing “cardio” in the gym; however, that’s important, too. I simply focused on movement outside the gym and saw how much of an impact that had on my overall health.
Another small habit I started was turning off my phone 45 minutes before bed (which was so hard!) I found myself unwinding for bed much easier and falling asleep faster. I also slept much better, which meant I had more energy throughout the day.
Another change I made was to eat more whole foods. Notice, I didn’t say the word “clean.” I focused on eating foods that are actually real, grown in the Earth, and that don’t come in packages. If I incorporated more of these whole foods, then I didn’t really have room for as much processed foods in my diet. This concept is also known as “crowding out” for those who have never heard of this before. Don’t get me wrong- I love certain foods that are in packages- but I just don’t consume them as regularly.
These are some of the changes I started implementing when I focused on wellness resolutions rather than weight-loss resolutions.
My challenge to you is to find wellness routines you can adopt into your life that you can do each and every day. Our small, sometimes seemingly-pointless, routines actually add up to big changes.