As a New Year’s resolution, people often decide: “This is the year I’m going to get healthier and into shape!” While this is a good start (and an effective way to practice self-wellness and kindness, too!), it often gets abandoned. But why? My guess is because the resolution is too narrow. Cheat meals and skipping the gym sneaks in, and soon the resolution is abandoned altogether

What if instead, getting “healthier and into shape” were to become part of a bigger New Year’s resolution?

A new resolution should be both attainable and fulfilling, life-changing, yet easy-going. It should not be something that’s easy to give up on during the first couple of months. It should be a broad goal, in my opinion, rather than a specific one. This article will address a broad New Year’s resolution along with many ways to put it into action.

“This year, I will practice wellness and kindness toward myself and others.”

There are many ways to practice wellness and kindness toward yourself and others, making this an effective, broad New Year’s resolution. And that’s the beauty of it! More specific resolutions are harder to keep because they’re easier to let slip. They are also easier to make up excuses for. For example, if you strictly decide not to look at your phone after 8:00 PM—well, that can be easy to let slip (“I just need to respond to this one text.”.) And once it does, it can lead to discouragement and the eventual abandonment of the resolution.

There are many ways to practice wellness and kindness toward yourself and others. Let’s begin with practicing mental resilience. By practicing this first tip, you’re much more likely to stick with the resolution. 

Practice mental resilience

This is the first step to practicing wellness and kindness toward yourself and others. It is an act of self-love that will teach you about your own mind while also helping you stick with the resolution for life. Here are some specific tips for building your mental stamina.

Stop being a perfectionist and stop being so hard on yourself

It’s OK to mess up. It’s OK to begin a new goal and lifestyle while expecting a few setbacks or wrong turns. The point is to keep the momentum going. Healing and transformation are often three steps forward and two steps back—just like that, in a cyclical pattern. 

If we’re setting out to practice gaining mental resilience as part of our New Year’s resolution, this is where to start. By learning this, we come to realize that it’s OK to have high expectations for ourselves without fearing failure and setbacks. 

See your worries as temporary

Right now, worry is plaguing much of the world, and it’s causing chronic stress. In order to end stress, we must restructure the way we think about the things that worry us. A helpful tool is to remember how short-term many of our worries are. Often, we worry about things that “could” happen. Sometimes these worries don’t have a basis in reality. And even if we’re chronically worried about something that is actually happening, is our worry useful in helping to resolve it? As a part of your New Year’s resolution, instead of worrying, try taking action, changing your perspective, or just letting it be.

Practice active listening

Make it a part of your New Year’s resolution to practice active listening. It is essential for practicing kindness toward others, and yes, even yourself. 

Active listening is a mindful experience. It teaches us to open our hearts while showing us empathy and selflessness. When we practice active listening, those who need us will feel heard. They’ll come to trust us more and will continue to seek us out for the comfort of our ears.

Be mindful of what enters your system

This is essential to our New Year’s resolution of practicing wellness for ourselves. And I’m not only talking about food. I’m talking about conversations. I’m talking about television, drugs, and even the company we keep. We are what we surround ourselves with. We become what we consume in our minds, souls, and bodies.

So yes, this tip constitutes what we eat as well. A simple guideline is to ask yourself before any bite of food: is this fueling disease or fueling my health?

Tip: While we recommend adding healthy eating as a portion of your resolution, remember to avoid perfectionism. This means that if you slip and indulge in a decadent dessert or bag of chips, it doesn’t mean you need to end your resolution. You can pick up where you left off and continue your journey to a healthier you.

Take risks and go out of your comfort zone

This could be the year where you decide to take the necessary steps to make new friends, start new hobbies, and learn new skills. 

Connecting with yourself via trying new things will yield exponential results for your happiness. Here are some ways you can get out of your comfort zone for the sake of your growth.

• Try cooking a new dish. And make it healthy, too. Cooking is ultimately an art form that offers peace, creativity, and satisfaction to the mind. Look up plant-based recipes that will heal and fulfill you.
• Join a yoga studio. This is a great way to become friends with some new people as well as your body. Yoga teaches us to love our bodies for where they are while simultaneously striving to make them more resilient. You’re bound to meet like-minded individuals in the process!
• Talk to strangers when you’re out in public. Have you ever felt that rush from having a good, unexpected conversation with a stranger? Why does this happen? It’s our unconscious minds confirming that as social beings, these conversations fuel us. There’s something to learn and share between you and people from all walks of life. Open yourself to these discussions.

Make it about you so it can spread to others

Though there are little things this article suggests to practice wellness and kindness toward others, the main thing you can do to help others is to be there for yourself. The Indian mystic Sadhguru said: “Once your life is your expression of blissfulness, you will not be in conflict with anyone.” As a matter of fact, you’ll be serving and loving everyone around you instead.

New Year’s resolutions often falter because they’re too narrowly focused. This sets people up for disappointment, which can then lead them to give up on their resolution altogether. By setting a broader resolution, such as practicing wellness and kindness toward yourself, you get to experience many methods to do so, and small setbacks will seem less detrimental. 

Want more tips on making this your best year? Visit the TelMD Upstream Blog!

Let’s Make Wellness Contagious!™