Happy New Year!
The new year often inspires a renewed sense of purpose, determination, and hope. It’s a time when you put the past behind you and begin new adventures. A time to reexamine your life and figure out what changes you’d like to make.
This year, try throwing resolutions out the window and make positive changes in a different kind of way. Here are five alternatives to making New Year’s resolutions that will leave you feeling satisfied for who you are.
Schedule time for SELF CARE
It’s easy to get caught up in your busy schedule. Balancing work, family, friends, and other commitments can take up all of your time and energy, leaving little room for yourself. It’s time to change that. In addition to eating healthy and getting enough sleep, you've got to move your body every day! Not sure how to get started? Let me help you get organized and create a plan. Reach out to me for a Free Consultation:
Identify your people Make a list of everyone in your life who is good for you. Who brings out the best in you? Who makes you laugh? Who leaves you in a good mood? Figure out a way to regularly connect with them throughout the year, and plan things ahead of time. Here are some ideas:
Monthly dinners
Weekly coffee dates
Exercising together twice a week
Exploring different parts of your city
Process the past year
When you only concentrate on the year ahead, you can forget what got you here in the first place. Spend some time processing all that happened this past year—the good, the bad, and everything in between. Refrain from passing judgement on things, but rather respect that they are part of your journey and have helped you build the foundation for your future.
Create spaces for reflection by:
Lighting a candle, sitting in a comfy chair, and writing down your thoughts in a journal.
Having dinner with a friend and processing your year in four-month chunks over appetizers, main course, and dessert.
Reserving a time for meditation to think back over the past year. Visualize where you started and where you’ve ended up.
Express gratitude
When practiced regularly, gratitude can help you maintain a fresh perspective and steer you away from daily stress. To start the new year, make a list of things in your life for which you are thankful. Sit and reflect on why you are thankful for those things—the why is something often left out of basic gratitude practices. You might begin to see a pattern for what’s important to you and what brings you joy. Next, make a list of people for whom you are thankful. Take time to write each person a note expressing why you are thankful for them, without any expectation to hear back. This is your chance to bless their life as they start a new year.
Practice self-acceptance Instead of trying to change yourself, find some comfort in who are you—right here and right now. It can become exhausting to constantly make changes in your life. Imagine a life where you can just sit with yourself in acceptance.
Here are some ways to practice self-acceptance:
Make a list of all of the things about yourself you are proud of
Ask others to tell you what they admire in you
Meditate with the mantra, “I am enough.”
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to grow and improve different aspects of yourself, but before starting that journey, learn to accept where you are in the present moment. Then see what naturally comes about when you don’t force changes to life.
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