Healthy Habits to Adopt
Every new year brings the need to develop new year’s resolutions we feel are missing from our lives. However, this ends up being an endless cycle over the years of not following through and even recycling the same resolutions each year. This abandonment makes us believe that it’s our problem and that maybe we’re not capable of doing the things we want to achieve.
What if the problem wasn’t us, but that we continue to make resolutions that maybe aren’t possible in our busy day to day lives. Unfortunately, the tasks and events that we face can indeed feel draining by the end of the day, and it’s challenging to find the motivation to do something big when you feel as if you don’t have the energy. This is not to say that your goals are unattainable because they are, and you should be in charge of getting what you want.
However, to achieve these goals we’ve long been working for, it helps to understand what we need physically and mentally to reach our goals with a clear and positive mindset. Small habits you can add to your daily life and maintain beyond the new year can energize your brain and body. Instead of talking down on ourselves, let’s learn to be our top supporters.
Prioritizing Sleep
Our sleep patterns can determine our mood and focus, among many other medical conditions that affect the mind and body. As adults, we should be aiming to get about 8 hours of sleep a night to improve concentration, immune system, digestion, and overall mental health. When you get enough sleep, you reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. Don’t underestimate the power of sleep, as it affects our bodies and minds and how we handle things and people in our lives. If you have insomnia, try reading a book before bed, meditating, and putting away all electronics at least an hour or two before bed.
Eating the Good Food
Another typical new year’s resolution that pops up yearly is the need to lose weight. The mistake often made is that you need to go on a diet to lose this weight. Numerous studies prove you can lose a healthy weight by eating intuitively with food that fuels you and you enjoy. If you would like to lose weight and maintain such weight, try eating more healthy carbs, fats, and proteins with your meals instead of going on diets like a juice cleanse, ‘carb-free’ diets, or practically starving yourself. Build a healthy relationship with food and eat the food that you genuinely enjoy. Such diets can lead to an even more unhealthy view of yourself and your relationship with food, possibly leading to gain the weight you wanted to lose. Try to avoid thinking thin but having the desire to love your body and food.
Take a Break
Whether the day is stressful or not, allow yourself to take a break and think about what it is you’re grateful and appreciative of. Take at least ten minutes out of your day to go for a walk without technological distractions. Take in the scenery surrounding you, and maybe you’ll notice the smaller beautiful things that you couldn’t see before. If you’re not up for the walk, maybe try sitting outside for a short period of time for fresh air, spending time with loved ones or pets! Any stress-free activity you enjoy.
Journaling
Journaling can be a hit or miss with everyone. Many people start one easier and enjoy it while the other half may have difficulties knowing where to begin and when. We don’t need to have an aesthetically pleasing journal or pay much attention to word count. Remember, it’s your journal just for you, and no one else has to see it if you don’t want them to. Journal the way that works best for you. If writing down full entries doesn’t sound appealing, try making a daily list of manifestations, what you were grateful for that day, what emotions you felt, and what you want to improve on. It may sound cliche, but using journals can help possibly bottled feelings that we need to release.
Exercise
Another usual new year’s resolution that coincides with losing weight or eating better is wanting to work out more often and feel stronger. Exercise isn’t always the activity we want to rush to do depending on what we like, but finding a routine that works for you helps the same. Exercise doesn’t only affect physical health but our mood and overall mental health. You don’t need to go for a mile run or do a HIIT workout if it’s not your favorite method. Do whatever exercise you enjoy, anything to get your body moving. Going for walks, yoga, or bike rides are just a few that benefit your overall health and can be enjoyable and relaxing.
Social Interaction
There’s great importance in human interaction and relationships. We thrive on connecting to others, and this benefits our mental health. Especially during this pandemic, we can’t achieve even close to the level of social interaction we crave. Still, it doesn’t mean it’s inaccessible, especially now with more advanced technology to communicate with loved ones. Too much time by yourself can create that sense of loneliness and eventually even take a toll on your mental health.
Try calling, video-chatting, texting, or seeing a loved one (masked AND socially distanced!) will have a significant impact on your mood and allow you to feel safe and secure. There are even ways to watch movies with friends over FaceTime! Find that time you used to go out and replace it with a group call with friends to chat, watch movies, or even have a game night.
These are just a few of the activities you can incorporate into your daily life for physical and mental wellness. You don’t need to do all these specific things. Find what works for you and keeps your body and mind active. The point of these ‘resolutions’ is to have fun and promote self-growth. You want to wake up and feel excited for the day to try these new activities. Then, in doing these activities that improve our outlook and mood, we can face the daily challenges head-on positively.
Maybe track your progress in living and adapting to this new healthy lifestyle. Pay attention overtime to how it affected your mood and energy. Did it make any positive changes? What would you want to do differently? It’s still possible to have bad days even when living a healthy lifestyle, and it’s just a natural way of how life works.
Forgive yourself for the bad days instead of punishing yourself for not having a good one. We will all make mistakes, and being consistent with motivating yourself to do everything you have on a to-do list can be difficult. Do what is best for your body and understand when it needs its rest and take care of yourself for your benefit.