(I’m about to rant on some really cliche topics, forgive me.)
January has come to a close! The first month of 2018 flew by and now the the second month of the year is stepping up to take its place. But I don’t want to talk about the stress of school work and the #ForeverAlone holiday. I want to talk about that New Year, New Me mindset that people either roll their eyes at or caption every firework picture with.
The top five most common New Year’s resolutions this year, according to a YouGov poll on Statista, were to:
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Eat Healthier
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Get More Exercise
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Save More Money
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Focus on Self-Care (ie. get more sleep)
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First, I want to commend everyone who may be making these resolutions! Big changes like these can be a challenge, so starting in January feels like a clean slate that may help you become more motivated to achieve your goals.
Moving onto what I originally wanted to write this article about: Helpful lifestyle choices to keep resolutioners on track! Around this time is when most start to burn out, especially with midterms and co-op plaguing the mind of every student during their study term. These tips and resources aren’t ground-breaking, everyone more of less already knows about them, but most never actually follow through. Some things I suggest might overlap to help you achieve more than one of the resolutions mentioned, but New Year, New You right?
(Photo courtesy of Pixabay)
The obvious first tip is to make your own food instead of eating out, but let me tell you right now, it’s not as easy as it sounds. Buying healthy food, and cooking it yourself?!?! That’s so much work to add into your busy schedule. Meal prep is the next solution to this problem. Sure, it’s just as time consuming and exhausting, if not more since you’re cooking multiple meals instead of one, but there are some huge benefits if you take time out on a Sunday and prepare your lunches and some dinners for the week. The first being that it is much cheaper to buy $80 worth of groceries every 2-ish weeks than to spend that amount on 8 burritos. It also gives you the opportunity to make healthier choices, like making a stir fry instead of ordering one at McDonalds (THEY DO THAT NOW!). So, basically what I’m trying to get at is that meal prep can help you save time (better spent on reading), save money (for textbooks…) and eat healthier (#1!).
(Photo courtesy of Pixabay)
The next topic I want to touch on is your activity level. The second resolution in the list is to get more exercise. When people think of this resolution, they head to the gym for the first few weeks of January, before most of them slowly have to stop due to the chaos of living life. If you go to the gym and are able to set up a routine to keep this resolution, good job! That’s incredible because I know the struggle of going to the gym regularly.
For those who are like me, get active in different ways. If you live close to campus and it’s a nice day, walk to class instead of bus. Take the stairs! My roommate often goes for an hour walk just because. You don’t have to become a full-time gym rat, just look for ways to spend less time on your butt. If you want a bit more activity in your life, try looking for short workout videos on YouTube. My personal favourite is this channel. She even has monthly calendars telling you which videos to do each day for free! These small changes can really help you motivate yourself in other ways as well. Everyone knows that the more activity you do, the more endorphins are released into your brain and the happier you become. I find that this change in my mood motivates me to work harder.
(Photo courtesy of Pixabay)
Another tip I find very helpful is to make lists or schedules. I know it might sound dumb, or maybe you live your life this way already, but having a certain amount of time each day set aside for something helps me to actually accomplish that something instead of putting it off. Lists help me organize my time and thus to complete more tasks in a day. This will be very helpful in the long run, because if you’re able to complete assignments on time or early, you won’t be staying up late trying to finish them, allowing for a better sleep schedule, allowing for a more active daytime schedule, which means you can get a lot of things done during the day….you get where I’m going with this? I’ve noticed I even have more free time as I’m getting up earlier!
(Photo courtesy of Pixabay)
The last thing I want to encourage you to do is to get out of your comfort zone. Also very basic but a tip you really should try to actually do. Join clubs, have conversations with people you wouldn’t normally talk to, apply to jobs, start an intramural team! Whatever it is, just try it out because most of the time, the worst thing that will happen to you is embarrassment (which will go away in a few days)!
What I’m trying to say is: make the most of your 2018! Remember that change isn’t going to happen immediately, but if you continue working hard at what you are trying to achieve, you will see results!
I’m leaving you with this website that has other articles on some really helpful topics like meal prep, workouts, mental wellness and social interactions. Take a look and get inspired!
Hope you liked my cliche article. But for real, make your 2018 happen the way you want it to!