20 New Year's Resolutions for the upcoming year

20 New Year’s Resolutions for the Upcoming Year

What do we need? What is missing in our lives in order for us to feel complete? Many of us welcome the upcoming year by making New Year’s resolutions. For many, it’s a decision to do something significant to improve our lives and sometimes the world at large.

We have compiled a list of inspirational ideas that can make awesome resolutions you can set for yourself just before you wish a Happy New Year. Read, share and take care.

Table of Contents

What’s the point of New Year’s Resolutions?

People make New Year’s resolutions as a way to set goals and make positive changes in their lives as they enter a new year. The start of a new year often symbolizes a fresh beginning and a chance to leave behind old habits or negative behaviors. By making resolutions, individuals commit to improving themselves in various aspects, such as health, relationships, personal development, or career.

New Year Quotes.
New Year Quotes

New Year’s resolutions provide a sense of motivation and purpose. They allow people to reflect on their past experiences and envision a better future. Setting specific goals for the year ahead gives individuals a roadmap to follow, helping them stay focused on their aspirations and work towards self-improvement. While not everyone may successfully keep their resolutions throughout the year, the act of making them represents a commitment to personal growth and positive change.

20 New Year’s Resolutions for the Year that’s About to Arrive

1

Live a healthy lifestyle

There are not too many things in life as important as good health, and that is why we consider it one of the most important things you need to resolve to achieve this New Year. In the quest for a healthy lifestyle, some of the vital things that all health practitioners recommend you do include ensuring that you regularly eat a healthy and balanced diet and engage in regular exercise. Some simple exercises that you can adopt include jogging, brisk walking, swimming, bicycling, etc. It might not be easy at the start, but with time, you are going to get used to it and even love it!

Not only does regular exercise save you from frequenting your doctor’s office, but it also keeps you physically fit, good looking (because you will shed some pounds), happier, etc. Resolve to live a healthier lifestyle this year and work towards achieving that goal, and you’d be glad you did that!

2

Start Meditating

Why is meditating so important? For starters, it is a great antidote to the stress that often accompanies life. It helps in reducing your stress level by bringing down the amount of stress hormones produced by the body, thereby injecting serenity and happiness into your life. Besides reducing stress, meditation also gives you the following scientifically proven benefits: significantly reduces depression and anxiety levels, leads to better relaxation, slows down the aging process, enhances a sound sleep, improves the immune system, and more. Owing to the immense benefits meditation comes with, it is often considered to be the best food for the soul.

But how easy is meditating? It is as simple as breathing in and breathing out. You can learn more about how to meditate here.

3

Inject more play into your Life

There is a lot of truth in the old adage which says “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”, in the sense that if you do not take some time off your work to engage in play or fun activities, then your life is definitely going to be boring and sometimes even unhealthy.

A boring life doesn’t help you, and it certainly doesn’t help those around you too. Devoting more time for play not only improves your well-being, but it also plays a significant role in making you more productive at work. Add more fun activities into your daily routines this New Year and live a more joyful life.

4

Give to the Poor

Decide to give to the poor more often. Not only does this put a smile on a less privileged person’s face but it also brings you a lot of benefits. If you are religious, you are probably aware of the part of the Scriptures which says that “God loves a cheerful giver” and that there is more blessing in giving than in receiving. Aside from the spiritual benefits that come with giving, there are also several scientifically proven benefits that accompany being generous. According to science, helping others is good for you in the sense that it gives you benefits such as the following:

  • It makes you feel happy.
  • It makes you healthier.
  • It has the ability to extend your lifespan.
  • It can significantly enhance your overall sense of purpose as well as satisfaction.

Giving comes in many forms such as donating money and other items to charitable organizations or donating your time by volunteering in places such as homeless shelters, orphanages, soup kitchens, etc.

This year's less and more list. New Year's Resolutions.
This year’s less and more list

5

Take up new Hobbies

Another excellent New Year’s resolution you can opt for is picking up one or two hobbies. Engaging in a hobby is very important for you since it plays a significant role in helping you enjoy a rich and more rewarding life. Some of the numerous benefits of engaging in a hobby include the fact that it takes your mind off the stress that accompanies everyday life and allows you to relax and have fun in your spare time.

Among the coolest hobbies you can take up to improve the quality of your life this New Year are: writing, hiking, gardening, fishing, cooking, dancing, bird watching, camping, painting, reading, golfing, etc. No matter how you look at hobbies, they are extremely good for your well-being and health. If hobbies aren’t part of your life, try incorporating one or two into your life.

6

Cultivate a Good Reading Habit

Endeavor to read more books this New Year simply because reading improves your life in numerous ways. The more you read, the more you are going to know.

Besides broadening your mind, reading comes with numerous other benefits such as increasing your vocabulary, stimulating your mind, improving your memory and providing you with free entertainment. These are just a handful of the reasons why reading is so important to the average person.

7

Learn Something New Every Day

Another awesome thing you can do for yourself this New Year is to endeavor to learn something new and fun every blessed day that comes your way. Even if what you are learning isn’t going to be instantly beneficial to you, in the long run it is going to be. Remember that no knowledge gained ever goes to waste.

8

Improve your Finances

It is fact that people with better finances tend to have happier lives than those with poorer finances. It is for this reason, it is a great idea to try to improve your finances this New Year.

There are three simple ways to achieve that. They are as follows: Pay off your debts, cultivate the habit of saving, and start making small investments here and there. Of the three things just mentioned, paying off your debts is very dear to our hearts, considering the fact that the more money you owe, the more burden you move around with. So start the brand New Year by paying off all your loans in order to live a debt-free and happy life. To stress on how important paying off your debts is, we end by reminding you of one of the famous lines from the Scriptures which advises us to “let no debt remain outstanding”.

Less Talking | More Listening
Less Talking | More Listening

9

Be grateful for the Blessings in your Life

You might not be a billionaire. You might not be the King or Queen of England. But there are a lot of priceless things that you are blessed with, so count your blessings! The more grateful you are for the little things that you have, the happier life is going to be for you. We are not the only ones saying this! Science also says it!

According to the conclusions of numerous scientists, who have over the years conducted several studies into this topic, people who live grateful lives tend to be happier than people who don’t. Other than happiness, gratitude also comes with other scientifically proven benefits such as improving your mental strength, enhancing your self-esteem, making you sleep better, among others.  So you see that one of the best things you can do for yourself in the New Year is to resolve to live your life with a heart full of gratitude all the time.

10

Improve your Education

If you are still in school, endeavor to learn harder and improve your grades. If you are out of school, going back to school isn’t a bad idea at all since there is absolutely no age limit for acquiring education. Regardless of how old you are, you can go back to school and continue from where you left off. Try to complete that diploma or degree that you have been postponing for some time now!

11

Spend more time with Family

If you haven’t been spending a lot of time with your family, you can use this New Year as a brilliant opportunity to change all that. Resolve to spend more and more quality time with your family. If you are married with kids, endeavor to devote more time for your spouse and kids. The great thing about spending time with your family is that it is not only fun, but it also strengthens family bonds in no small way.

Also, it is worth noting that young children who spend more quality time with their parents tend to feel more positive about themselves than other children who don’t.

12

Travel

Travel to places or countries that you’ve always dreamed of visiting. Traveling comes with so many benefits. For example, besides being ridiculously fun and relaxing, traveling helps you meet different people and learn about different cultures. If you don’t have the money or the time to travel abroad, you can still travel around your country and reap all the benefits that come with traveling. Believe us, there are so many interesting places in your country that are worth visiting!

13

Learn How to Play a Musical Instrument

What musical instrument have you always wanted to learn how to play? Is it the piano, the drums, or the guitar? Whatever instrument you wish to play, why not use this brand New Year to learn it? And thanks to the internet, learning how to play a musical instrument is now easier than ever. There are tons of videos and information online that can help you learn how to play your favorite instrument from the comfort of your home.

But are there really any benefits of playing an instrument? The answer is yes. There are countless benefits of learning a musical instrument!  Besides being fun, playing music helps you to reduce stress, improve your creativity, enhance your productivity, etc.

14

Kick away Procrastination

One of the most common reasons why people don’t achieve their goals in life is as a result of the spirit of procrastination that takes over them. Resolve to do away with procrastination and do what needs to be done in order to achieve your goals this New Year.

15

Be Optimistic

Resolve to be the person who always sees the glass as half full instead of half empty. Being optimistic in life comes with multitudes of benefits that greatly improve your life positively. For example, an optimistic person is more likely to overcome the obstacles that accompany life and be happier than one whose approach to life isn’t too optimistic.

16

Give up a bad Habit

We all have bad habits. You can start this New Year by giving up one or more of them. For example, if smoking is one of the habits you are not too proud of, strive to give it up. It is a fact that the more bad habits you give up, the higher the quality of your life will become.

17

Learn a new Language

Another cool resolution you might want to follow is learning a new language. There are thousands of languages spoken all over the world such as French, Spanish, German, Arabic, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, etc.

Choose any that you are interested in and learn it. If you have the ability to communicate in more than one language, you are not only considered cool by your peers, but you also stand to enjoy several other significant benefits. For example, in addition to your native language, speaking another major language of the world greatly enhances your opportunities in international business, government, etc.

18

Take care of the Environment

Another great thing you can do this year is to resolve to be more environmentally responsible. There isn’t much to do this. All you need to do to become more environmentally friendly is make very small and easy changes to your everyday life that would impact the environment in a positive way. Some of these simple changes include eating less meat, cutting down on the amount of energy you consume at home, recycling more, etc.

Doing simple things will play an important role in contributing towards saving the environment for generations yet to come.

19

Reduce Time on Social Media

Social Media (such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc) can be fun, but they can also become very addictive and time consuming. This is the reason why if you have been wasting too much of your valuable time on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc, you should try to put an end to that this New Year.

Reducing the amount of time that you spend on these social media sites provide you with numerous benefits such as making you more productive at work and allowing you to spend more time with your family and real life friends. Also, it helps save you from eventually being afflicted with social media addiction – an addiction which is as dangerous to your mental health as any other addiction you can think of.

20

Accept what’s Different

Our times often push us to uniformity. Of course, you know they say that man is a social animal, so it’s natural to feel well when we belong.

However, that doesn’t mean that not following all the rules is a reason for alienation. People that think, act, and live differently aren’t a threat, which is something we tend to forget.

Although it’s easier to recognize and accept something familiar, getting to know whatever or whoever walks on a different path seems to be a modern demand, let alone a universal hidden key to change and evolution.

Conclusion

The above-mentioned super cool ideas for your New Year’s resolutions, if followed religiously, will not only help you to improve yourself, but also those around you too, and sometimes even the world at large!

While it can often be pretty challenging achieving the resolutions that you have set for yourself, it is not an impossible task to turn them into a reality if you are really determined. All you need to do is ensure that you set realistic goals and focus on achieving them, regardless of the obstacles that stand in your way.

By the end of the year, we are confident that when you have achieved your resolutions, you’ll be glad you persevered till the end! Happy New Year, and good luck!

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Yiannis Kalliantas

Yiannis Kalliantas (He/Him) has worked for more than 15 years in the hotel industry, organizing all kinds of social events like birthday parties and wedding receptions.

He has been one of the top contributors on Birthday Wishes Expert since the launching of the site. Yiannis has curated hundreds of articles and he is committed to the mission of our site to helping people from all around the world find the right birthday wish on every occasion.

He has an MBA in Tourism, and is an avid city photographer. His recent work on street photography in Athens, Greece can be found on his website IWalkAthens.com.

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