You Still Have Time: Don’t Give Up On Your Resolutions Yet

I, like most people, am a believer in there always being room for improvement. However, we all know that for some reason, after you finish the last bowl of food at the New Year’s Celebration, the whole ‘resolution’ thing becomes secondary. I know this from my own experience, but it is never too late to start to work on yourself. Being a very humble, wise and great person, I am here to save your bodies and future selves from beating yourself up by sharing a few tips on how to start working on your resolutions right now! However, you have to promise me that you will choose one of the options from this list and start continuously working on it from TODAY! Ready to begin working on a new self? Yep, me neither, but let’s go!

#1: I want to lose weight.

The most important and easy tip that I have for you here is to drink water. I hate water. I can drink anything in enormous proportions if it is not water. Even though I now drink 2 liters of water a day, I still don’t like it. If you’re like me, I would recommend you fill two bottles of water and carry them with you throughout a whole day until you finish them. Don’t go to sleep until they are empty. Having them by your side will be an annoying reminder that some of us really need. Also, drink one cup of water in the morning. Your organism is in need of it and your mind is too disoriented to say ‘no’ to that. Just fill one cup in the evening and put it near your bed. You will be surprised by how much will change just because your body will be hydrated enough. 

The exercising part is important too if you’re aiming for drastic changes. Here, it is important to understand that you don’t have to go to the gym or sign up for some expensive classes in order to get fitter. You can, but it is not necessary if you don’t want to. The easiest and actually very powerful thing is to walk. Just go outside with your favorite music or podcast and walk around your neighborhood. 30 minutes a day should be a good start for you. Walking is good cardio that incorporates your whole body: it is as effective as running, but not as harmful (in the long run, running is harmful to your knees).

#2: I want to read more.

If I was a mean person, I’d just say, “Open the book and read…” I still have the urge to say that, but I understand that sometimes it is hard to find time to do so. First of all, let’s talk about this “lack of time” situation. Be honest with me here. We all know that this time gets taken away from us not only by work but by Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, etc. That’s why you can sacrifice one video and use this amount of time to read a book instead. Nobody said that you have to spend hours and finish all of the classics in one day, but 20-30 minutes a day could be a good start. ​

Nevertheless, if you still love your binge-watch time too much, download an audiobook and read it on the go. I found it helpful to listen to it, while I exercise because it distracts me from the pain. Audiobooks are a great way to start your year strong and they are cheaper too. The last option that I can suggest is having books downloaded to your phone. I use a Kindle for this because it is easier to find my favorite books there, but there are million apps to try and fit your taste. 

#3: I want to be less stressed. 

I want that too! My solution to that is meditating and journaling. Since I am a person who, as soon as she sits, can hear voices of cockroaches that inhabit my mind, I prefer to use Headspace. This app has guided meditations from 5-30 minutes and it genuinely helps me to focus on silence or whatever it is. Since this app has free 10 meditations, I genuinely recommend it to everybody I can because who has ever refused to try free stuff? 

Another piece of advice for you is to try journaling. In the beginning, I was highly skeptical about writing things down because I am not a whiny little girl who has no friends to bother if she needs somebody to talk to. On the other hand, everybody has the limits to their patience and I didn’t want to risk losing my friends purely because I complained to them every other day about not getting enough sleep due to my annoying professor with seemingly few other hobbies in life besides making me write essays every day that he doesn’t grade for weeks. Instead, my journal is a Google document with all the ease of typing. Some people prefer to buy a very pretty notebook to write in, but I always feel sorry to spoil them with my handwriting. After some attempts at writing my feelings in the evenings, I began to enjoy it. It feels like you are talking to somebody without fear of being judged or misunderstood. The only warning I can give you is not to read what you wrote because if you do so, you may feel like you were drunk or high at some points. 

I understand that I have not covered every resolution that could have possibly existed in this article, but I decided to start with the most popular ones. Starting something new and getting yourself outside of your comfort zone is a challenging task, but it is not Mission Impossible. We don’t need to jump from a burning airplane or save the world (unless you want to), we just need to get a little more time from our routine and do small steps at a time. As I said at the beginning, just take one suggestion that I wrote above and start doing it. I guarantee that it will push your inner button, and at the end of 2020 you will be the best version of yourself!

Good luck!

• Drink water
• exercise
• meditate
• new me
• New Year
• read
• resolutions