8 Self-Care New Year’s Resolution Ideas
Choose Active Not Passive New Year’s Resolutions
It may be cliched but I LOVE a New Year’s Resolution. However, you won’t find me giving up chocolate or cake in January. As a matter of fact, you won’t find me giving up anything. Because New Year’s Resolutions should be positively active not negatively passive. The positive reinforcement of ‘starting’ a ‘new’ habit is much more likely to win against the negative outlook of ’stopping’ an ‘old’ habit.
Make Measurable New Year’s Resolutions
I also love ticking boxes and scribbling on to-do lists. It provides a measure of success and therefore gratification. A great New Year’s Resolution should have daily or weakly goals and be measurable.
For example, “I’m going to do 30 minutes of exercise every day in January” is better than “I’m going to exercise more”. You need small incremental goals to stay on track and keep you motivated.
What’s Achievable in January?
While your goal needs to fit around your lifestyle (and the weather in the UK) to make it achievable, it should also be a challenge from the ordinary routine. There should also be a finish line; 1st February is an achievable goal. You only have to make it until the 31st and you’ve won.
What Happens after January?
Now I sense you thinking: “What’s the point in a New Year’s Resolution” if you aren’t going to stick to it after January”. New Year’s Resolutions are a way of changing behavioural patterns, introducing new interests and finding new choices that can change your lifestyle long-term.
For example, if you do 30 minutes of exercise every day in January you might find you can continue walking on your lunch breaks, the extra yoga session you added in on Thursdays can stay for the long-term, the run before dinner on Friday sets you up for the weekend. Big challenges over the short-term can help you find lifestyle changes over the long-term.
New Year’s Resolutions Ideas
Here are a few New Year’s Resolutions I have done over the years that have helped to change my lifestyle over the long-term:
Juice Daily
I have done this for the past two years as a way to improve my immune system and mood in January - when I’ve eaten too much beige food over Christmas. Make a homemade smoothie or juice every day and also make it a different colour each day to boost gut diversity; red from mixed berries; orange from carrot, orange and ginger; green from apple, cucumber, mint and kale. Top tip: don’t mix these colours as it makes brown and that’s really not very appetising!
Long-term my freezer now always has mixed fruit, my fruit bowel is always full and I drink smoothies with protein in after hard workouts.
2. Eat 30 Different Fruit and Veg a Week
Continuing on from gut diversity, the experts are all saying we should be eating 30 different plant-based foods each week for good gut health. That sounds impossible, however it is actually very easy because herbs, pulses, beans and seeds also count.
Top tip; when you go to the supermarket try to find a new fruit or veg each week and look up a new recipe to cook with it. You’d be surprised what nice dishes you can make that include Fennel, Artichoke or Chai Seeds for example, that might become a new staple in your house for mealtimes.
Long-term I now eat a lot more veggie meals and seek out new recipes regularly to diversity my dinner menu.
3. Go Outside Every Day for 20 Minutes
I have followed this resolution a lot over winter when the nights are dark and I’m suffering from SAD. If you think about your routine over winter you will be surprised how little time you spend outdoors. However, during winter is when we should be desperately running out of the door in search of that allusive Vitamin D. Top tip: check the forecast and pinpoint the windows of good weather and get outside for a walk or run.
Long-term I now nip out for a walk if I have a gap between massage clients or I go for a walk outside on my rest days from exercise.
4. Stretch for 30 Minutes Every Week
If you’re serious about your sport or your self-care in general, you should be lengthening out any muscles that are being shortened on a regular basis. If you’re a runner you should be spending time lengthening your Hamstrings and Calves. Cyclists should be lengthening these alongside their Quadriceps, Hip Flexors and Erector Spinae. Gym goers should be doing an all-over body stretch routine while people with a desk job should be mobilising their upper-back, shoulders and neck.
Please ask me for some stretches during your next sports massage. I also recommend at-home or class-based yoga stretch routines. Check out Yoga With Adrienne or Go Yoga in Harrogate.
Are you Stretching Properly >>
5. Take a Hour for Yourself Every Week
This is not selfish! You deserve it. It’s an hour of headspace that allows you some much-needed thinking place. This could be an hour to exercise if you want it to be. However, I recommend this resolution on top of your workout routine. You could journal your week, plan your week ahead, disappear in a good book, meditate, go for a walk, relax in the bath.
If it’s difficult to co-ordinate with your family at home, I recommend communicating when this hour is each week, what you are going to do during the hour and ask them not to disturb you.
After following this resolution I have fallen back in love with reading and devour books. My husband can also spot when I’m having an hour to myself and he’s kind and considerate not to disturb me.
How to Create a Sacred Space at Home >>
6. Try New Exercise/Sport Every Week
It’s never too late to try something new. Why not pick a sport you’ve always been interested in or something you enjoyed as a child. Trying a new sport also includes joining a new gym class, attending a new yoga or pilates class, going to the Harrogate Hydro to swim. Try a new sport or class that will get you excited about exercising again.
This year I have taken up off-road cycling (I previously thought I was too old to start off-roading) but now I’m hooked. The year before I started Padel and took a lesson (I’m not very good but can now enjoy playing with my husband and stepsons at weekends in the summer).
7. Join a Club/Class and Go Every Week
Similarly to trying a new sport, joining a club or class related to your existing hobby or sport will help you bring new interest, keep you motivated and engaged, meet new people and find out new things about your sport/hobby. Harrogate is a hotbed of club sports, with multiple clubs for Running and Cycling; Tennis, Padel, Squash; Golf, Cross-fit, Swimming, Netball and much more. There’s also heaps of Harrogate Yoga and Pilates classes, gym classes, fitness groups and much more.
Please feel free to ask me about all of the above during your next sports massage and I can help point you in the right direction of Harrogate clubs or classes and people in the local Harrogate fitness industry.
7. Journal Every Day
This is an ideal New Year’s Resolutions for anyone with a busy mind or suffering from stress, anxiety or has problems sleeping. Journaling can be whatever you want it to be; writing to-do lists, sketching down ideas, making sense of worries, expelling brain farts!
I wish you all a happy New Year and am looking forward to hearing about any New Year’s Resolutions you make during your next sports massage. If you haven’t already, you can book now for 2024. I have a limited number of appointments left in January.
*Disclaimer: This blog is from my personal experiences. I am not a qualified nutritionist, therapist of personal trainer.