With the start of a new year, and a new semester, it is the perfect time to make some healthy resolutions that will set the tone for the rest of the year! The winter months can make it really difficult to stay motivated and stick to your resolutions, so it’s important to pick something that you are invested in doing. Not only will it make dealing with the weather a lot easier, but you will find yourself staying motivated in all other aspects of your life throughout the semester! Here are some healthy New Year’s Resolutions, and tips to make sure you stick to them:
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Stay in Touch: Once classes get going, along with every other activity the semester brings, it can be really difficult to keep in contact with friends who aren’t in your immediate circle. Taking a few minutes during the day to reach out to someone that you haven’t seen in a while, making plans for coffee breaks or study dates with people you otherwise would forget to hang out with, can improve your mood and help keep you motivated as you go through your day. One of the tips for keeping resolutions is to make an audience for yourself -- have people who know what your goal is and can keep you on track. Staying in touch can be a way to build that audience, and the social aspect will help keep your energy positive!
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Self-Care: This is an important resolution, and often gets tossed to the side in the face of “more important” responsibilities. But, there is nothing more important than taking care of yourself. On busy days, take two minutes to do focused breathing exercises to keep your stress-level down. It’s easy to think that our other responsibilities deserve more attention than our own selves, but if you forget to take care of yourself, your performance in everything else will falter. Make an attainable goal for yourself, whether that is one day of self-care every other week or a few minutes of self-care every day, and use your friends to support you and help you reach these goals!
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After a hectic week, take fifteen minutes to do some activity that you enjoy, just for you.
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Adult coloring books can be really helpful in relieving stress, but you should find an activity that works best to calm you down.
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Take a quick nap during the day.
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Get Organized: Staying organized helps keep your mind uncluttered, your stress levels down, and gives you more time to do things you enjoy. Rather than spending hours stressed out and cramming various responsibilities into small amounts of time, keeping your time well-managed can help maintain a positive attitude throughout particularly busy and stress-filled periods. Buy a planner, a desk calendar, or any other organizer and take time every morning and/or every night to update it. Even just using the calendar feature on your phone and computer can help keep things organized by sending you notifications whenever you have an event coming up. Stay organized, and stay positive!
There are plenty of other New Year’s Resolutions that can help you keep a healthy lifestyle, and the important thing is to pick something that you care about doing to make it easier to stick to it. Check out tips to help keep your resolutions, as well as some other examples of healthy goals you can make for the New Year!
Contributed by: Gaby Vasquez