January … the month when we all make a pledge to better ourselves with New Year resolutions. From physical improvements to career betterment, it’s all about trying to enhance ourselves and our is the blank sheet we use to plan how our lives are going to pan out over the next year. It seems that we are all trying to push ourselves to be the best we can be in a short period of time – often with poor results.
According to Business Insider UK, 80% of New Year resolutions fail by February. So, how do we start a quest for self-improvement and keep it up throughout 2018? It’s easy, just focus on boosting your mind, mood and body without worrying about sensible eating and joining a gym!
Focus on the Family
This year, make more time for family get-togethers and days out. This might sound easy, but if you cast your mind back to 2017, you’re probably only able to pick out a handful of memorable moments that you’ve spent with your loved ones.
This doesn’t mean get home a bit earlier from work to spend time with your partner or taking the kids to the cinema now and then. Make 2018 the year for creating unforgettable moments. Climb Ben Nevis, go whale-watching, hike through a national park, kayak down your nearest river, or do a sponsored abseil. Big events give your family a collective goal to achieve, which means you get to train and prepare together, as well as make a long-lasting memory at the end.
Family life is extremely important for many reasons. Studies show that maintaining a good family life can fend off medical problems in later life. According to the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, single people have a higher risk of developing dementia, while New York University found that married people suffer less from cardiovascular disease than singletons.
How about taking family trips? The Journals of Vacation Marketing found that people waiting to go on holiday felt happier with their lives and experienced less negative emotions. So, pepper 2018 with a handful of family holidays somewhere you’ve all never visited before to keep moods high in your home.
Evaluate your job
According to research, millennials change their job around four times before they hit the age of 32. While this could be due to indecisiveness and an open job market, it could also suggest that we’re generally dissatisfied with our jobs — and since we spend most of our day at work, this is a massive part of our lives to put up with if we’re not happy. The Health and Safety Executive states that more than half a million workers suffered from anxiety or depression during 2016/17, which can lead to further health problems if left untreated.
2018 is your time to step back and re-evaluate your job — whether this means switching careers or just making positive changes. If you feel you need a creative outlet for some of your ideas, start a blog using WordPress — there are plenty of how-to guides and SEO-related articles to help you get your voice heard online.
Want to climb the career ladder but feel you’ve hit the ceiling? Search for relevant courses and ask for external training from your HR department. Or is it company morale that’s getting you down? Corporate days out are growing massively in popularity, so suggest a team-building trip somewhere to lift everyone’s spirits. Sports venues are particularly good for getting people working together in a fun, relaxed environment.
Take up an exciting new sport
They wouldn’t be New Year resolutions without a burning desire to lose weight and get fit. But instead of dragging yourself to the gym or pounding the pavement, why not get active with a more off-centre exercise, like skiing or snowboarding?
An average adult can burn between 250 and 630 calories every hour while skiing or snowboarding, and the exercise tests your balance and works all your major muscle groups to help you tone up quickly. Adrenaline-pumping sports like this one also encourages your body to release endorphins — which are neurochemicals that create a feeling of happiness and lower stress — while a study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, showed that regular exercise reduced the chances of developing depression.
Snow sports are fast, fun and intense — but the skills for them take time to master. However, there are indoor slopes, snowboarding lessons and skiing lessons available to help you challenge yourself and become a pro in 2018.
Dine around the world
Rather than putting yourself on a gruelling and strict diet, make healthy eating more tolerable by putting a spin on it — like incorporating nutritious global dishes into your daily intake.
A report by Diabetes UK discovered that around 66% of adults ate three or fewer portions of fruit and vegetables per day, with almost 50% not eating a piece of fruit at least three days in a week. Failing to consume nutritious foods puts us at risk of obesity along with a range of medical issues — but we all know how hard it is to swap bad treats for good foods.
Shake-up your diet and promise yourself to use at least three healthy ingredients from across the world every week. Harissa, a chilli paste from northern Africa, is believed to have cancer-protective qualities and tastes great in soups, while lucuma (from Peru) makes a perfect snack and contains carotene that can reportedly reduce the effects of ageing. For breakfast, put some chia seeds in your porridge — this food comes from Mexico and offers a healthy dose of omega-3 fatty acids.
Break a record
Forget simply learning a new skill, why not smash a world record to make 2018 stand out? According to psychology experts, mastering a talent instils a feeling of accomplishment that can help to reduce the risks of depression and improve mental wellbeing.
Considering that one of the most recent examples of creating a world record was for most people to play a tune on a single piano, you really can set a global achievement in almost any activity. If your equipment is up to par it helps! You can have the best digital piano and that can make the feat more achievable. Search online for exercises that have already been done and get practising to hallmark 2018 as the year you became a record holder.
How have your new year resolutions gone?
