Healthy Habits to Add This New Year
At the beginning of my blogging journey, I focused a lot on healthy habits. While trying to figure out what I want to write for the New Year, I took a look back at some of my old posts for inspiration. I wrote a blog post with my 5 Tips for Starting a Healthy Lifestyle back in 2017. The advice I gave back then was very much on brand for the times but my ideas on what makes a healthy lifestyle have drastically changed.
It’s important to me that any advice I give to readers reflects what I believe to be beneficial in my own life. My hope is that the content I create inspires people to follow their bliss. To embolden readers to live their happiest and most fulfilled lives. So, in that spirit, I want to share an update to my old post that reflects my new ideas on what makes a healthy lifestyle.
Healthy Habits to Add this New Year
I am a big believer that you don’t need a new you in the new year. One of my favorite posts that I’ve ever written is Why You Don’t Need a New You This Year. I don’t love the idea of feeling like my body or my mind is something to be “fixed.” I also don’t think that you need to wait until the New Year to make changes in your life. You can decide that you’re sick of the way things are at 10:57 pm on a Tuesday in May and start making changes there and then!
When I decide that I want to pivot or set new intentions, I don’t approach it from a place of taking anything away. My favorite thing to do is to see what I can add to my life. How can I add abundance instead of thinking I need to remove something entirely? The exceptions to this are things like quitting smoking or if you feel you need to quit drinking. I am all for you removing those from your life. But other than those two things try and find ways to add to your life!
1. Move your body in a loving way
There are so many great benefits to exercising that aren’t weight loss centric. I no longer workout to lose weight. I move my body in ways that feel good to me. This looks different for everyone. For me, it looks like lots of walks and at-home workouts. For others, it can look like swimming and hiking or workout classes at the gym. Whatever it is, make sure to focus on feeling good as opposed to how many calories you can burn. Any movement is good for you.
2. Add something that will help you care for your mental health
I don’t know where I would be today without therapy. Honestly, it is the best thing I have done for my mental health. But caring for your mental health doesn’t just mean going to therapy. Not unlike moving your body in a way that feels good to you, this looks different for everyone. And you don’t have to just do one of these things, here are some examples of how I take care of my mental health:
- Therapy
- Journaling – Here are my tips for starting your own practice. Here are some prompts you can use. I also love The Five Minute Journal!
- Exercise
- Catching up with a friend or a loved one
- A bath and a good book
- Gardening
3. Add more nourishment to your diet
I haven’t been on a diet in a long time. Every year I used to set a resolution to go on a diet to lose weight. Guess what? I never stuck to it and always felt so much worse about myself for not having accomplished my goal. A few years ago though I learned about intuitive eating and dove headfirst into any anti-diet culture content I could get my hands on. Since then I haven’t set any weight loss or diet goals and my life has improved so much because of that.
Sure, I indulge during the holidays but that doesn’t mean that I tell myself on Jan 1st to never eat cheese or cookies again. Instead, if I am feeling a little sluggish after the holidays I simply increase my fruit and veggie intake. I also like to increase my water intake to rehydrate myself from all the wine and diet coke that was had during the festive season. It’s so much nicer to focus on what I can add instead of what I need to take away due to some self-imposed “food rules.”
4. Get outdoors as often as possible
On the Mel Robbins podcast, they did an episode talking about 8 simple changes you can implement to improve your life. All of these are backed by scientific studies and one of them was that listening to bird song for at least one second per day can boost your mood for up to 8 hours! I love this and I love being outside. One of my favorite sounds is the frogs in the retention pond across from our house. I always know Spring is on its way when I start to hear them at night!
My habit of walking almost every day gets me outside for at least 30 minutes. Getting out in the fresh air and the quiet of the morning makes for the most peaceful start to my day! During the Spring and Summer, Jake and I spend tons of time outdoors and it is the best! We work a lot in our yard and garden and we love to eat dinner out on our back patio during the Summer. We also like to head to a local lake in the evening to go swimming or enjoy the cooler part of the day.
There are so many studies about the wellness benefits of being outdoors and usually, you can find an affordable activity to do in order to enjoy it to its fullest potential!
5. Practice setting boundaries
Admittedly, this is something that I struggle with. It is important to set boundaries in your relationships with the people around you. Setting boundaries can help you build greater self-esteem and gain a greater sense of identity. You can get clear on who you are, what you want out of life, and what your values and belief systems are. By setting boundaries in your relationships, you are able to have more compassion and less anger and resentment.
Setting boundaries helps protect your peace and ensures that your relationships are mutually respectful. So let’s work on this together this year!
6. Make time for rest and relaxation
In the hustle culture that we are in nowadays, it is more important than ever to make sure we are taking time to rest and relax. Taking time out to recharge helps avoid burnout and reduces stress and anxiety. It can also improve your mood so be sure to make time for it!
7. Love and accept yourself and your body as it is right now
The most important relationship you have in life is the one with yourself. It is so easy for us to be hard on ourselves and hate the way our bodies look. I have struggled with body image issues for most of my life and it’s really hard to quiet the negativity in your head. But I encourage you to try.
I still have a hard time looking at myself in the mirror some days. I feel self-conscious about the way I look and if I am smart enough or good enough when putting myself out there on social media. But it’s important that we try to love all of ourselves. After all, we are the only person in the world we will spend our whole life with! we might as well love ourselves for who we really are!
Additional resource:
I hope you’re having a Happy New Year! Do you have any healthy habits you’re adding to your life that I haven’t mentioned here? Share them in the comments or over on Instagram! I would love to hear from you!
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