Have you ever tried to make a New Years Resolution and completely forgot about it? Or maybe it just wasn't doable? Don't worry, we've all been there.
Can I tell you something that helps? Choosing something that you're passionate about with a great reward! Especially when you keep the end result in the forefront of your mind. Otherwise, why bother with it?
Below are 22 ideas to start living a healthier, more eco and rejuvenating lifestyle - as well as the benefits from each of them!
1. Eat Healthier for Healthier Hair
Did you know that by eating healthier, your hair becomes healthier, too? You may've already tried eating more fruit or veg as part of your new years resolution before, but we know of 3 foods for healthier hair. Thinking of those ever growing luscious locks as you munch on nutritiously rich foods is far more enticing, right? Incorporating more of these foods into your diet is easy and comes with healthier hair.
2. Start Reducing your Carbon Footprint
We have 8 Ideas for a Healthier Earth, from educating yourself by watching documentaries on Netflix, to offering donations, installing water tanks, and finding a local nature park you adore and visiting it often. There are many ways we can turn our impact on the Earth into a positive one. But you don't have to do it all at once. Why not pick one thing, and try it out?
3. Become a Pro at Something You're Passionate About
Super into hair care? Learn How to Hair Mask like a Pro. Fascinated by the ocean? Consider volunteering - even if you live far away from the coast, you can still help by reducing your plastic consumption. Or maybe you love to decorate your spaces? Learn what materials match with others and where you can source sustainable products for them.
4. Go Somewhere You've Never Been
Local travel has become a lot more common since the days of lockdowns. The great thing about this is that we start to grow an appreciation for what we have right before us. Ask your friends and family if they know of any parks, walks, or heritage buildings (if history is up your alley) that are nearby.
Or maybe going somewhere far is just what you need after a couple of years of staying within the borders. Reset that routine in whatever way you need.
5. Focus on Self Care, to Focus on Others
Getting plenty of sleep, eating healthy, volunteering/helping friends & family out, and saving money to help those stress levels remain low for when your next doctors or dentist appointment comes are all great methods of self care. Take the time to cook good meals. They can still be super quick. Consider spending more time with friends and family instead of binging episodes, or helping out somewhere instead of scrolling on Facebook. Once you have more energy with good food and sleep, you'll have more time for others. Taking care of yourself in these ways will make spending time with others and helping others tremendously more rewarding, rather than draining.
6. Declutter
How many times has it become difficult to clean because there is so much stuff in the way? Decluttering is a great method to fix this problem up. It's amazing how much cleaner a space looks when there isn't so much stuff.
7. Find a Community
There's nothing more uplifting than being surrounded by people who are as passionate as you are about something. Are you a keen romance reader? Join a book club! Baking enthusiast? Coffee lover? Gilmore Girls fanatic? There's a Facebook group for that, too.
Did you know that our name, Grassroots Movement Australia, was chosen because of our local community? When I was hairdressing, I'd ask my clients about what they wanted in an eco-friendly shampoo. From the roots up, our community in Torquay have had a massive impact on the success we now have. It made sense to name our eco-friendly, salon hair product after the people that made it a reality. If you want to know more about how Grassroots was founded, I was in a podcast!
8. Spend 5 Minutes a Day Tidying Up
You might be surprised how much difference this makes to your space, yet it doesn't take very long at all!
Understandably, if you're living with toddlers who find hours of entertainment in pulling things from cupboards, then this venture may prove more effort than it's worth. But if you have spaces in your home that's kept away from the march of tiny feet, then you can make those spaces a haven of tidiness. Is it your own room? The bathroom? Or perhaps even the attic? Dedicate a few minutes a day to make any area worth the effort of keeping tidy.
9. Reconnect with Someone
There's no denying that our lockdowns of social interaction have been hard to avoid. Perhaps you've fallen out of contact with someone who you used to see at the school car park, or at university. Maybe it's time to reconnect over a cup of coffee and phone call, or get back into the practice you used to have before Covid struck.
10. Develop a Skin Care Routine
It's the little things done each day that add up. So why not start now by implementing a skin care routine, knowing that you'll be keeping your skin as healthy as it could be in the future?
The Willow and Oak range offers hydrating products for your hands, face & body. These help to alleviate dry surfaces and keep your skin looking and feeling healthy.
11. Choose Three Major Goals
It can be overwhelming to think of all the things we want to do better in. Loosing weight, buying a house, renovating the bathroom, start a new degree, get a promotion at work, plan a wedding, build that veggie patch, spend more time with your family, become a better cook, write a book, etc etc. The list can go on, and on. But what if you just chose three things to focus on during the year instead of trying to cram everything in at once?
To help choose, ask yourself what stage of life you're in at the moment. Are you raising a family? Maybe spending more time with them by getting your kids involved with some of the cooking, gardening, or even some exercise routines.
Living solo? Now might be the perfect time to start that new degree or write that book. Living with a partner, friend or family member? Renovations are easier with less people treading about.
12. Set a Budget and Create a Plan Around it
Getting your finances sorted is always a good idea. It relieves the stress of the unknown, and sets your plans for the future. It helps to gauge where you're going, and likely helps you to move there faster.
Where do you want to be living in 5 years time? What do you want to be doing, or how do you want to be spending your time? You could budget to buy a house, a car, save for a holiday, or to ease into retirement. Or maybe you just want more time to live life. Is time a more attractive currency for you? Perhaps consider how living on a part time job would be like.
Whatever the case, budgeting is a great way to help you to know where you're going!
13. Learn a New Language
Ever wanted to learn a new language just for the fun of it? Studies show that learning a new language is a great way to engage the brain, and reveals this to be similar for those learning a new instrument.
Or maybe you're excited to travel, and want to have some of the language on your belt. But if you're looking to get further than learning 'hello', 'thank you', and 'where's the toilet?', then consider listening to audiobooks that you're already familiar with like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, or watch your favourite movies in that language with subtitles and without.
14. Make a Morning Routine
Incorporating a routine in the morning is like setting yourself up for success. You're starting the day with an intentional rhythm. It could include exercise, stretching, reading, journaling, skin routine, or maybe even a little cleaning.
15. Clean Out Your Inbox and Unsubscribe from old Interests
Are you one of those people who have that 99+ notification glued to your phone? It's pretty easy to accomplish, so don't feel guilty. Maybe this could be counted at the 10 minute tidy up time each day?
Getting rid of that number will likely help you feel more organised, and in the know with what is going on. I don't know about you, but sometimes having that amount of unread emails leaves me wondering if I've missed something important in there...
16. Go Tech Free for a Day
Not only does this do a little good for the planet, it's also a massive benefit for you, too!
Consider turning off your phone, switching off your computer, your ipad and TV. And instead delve into a good book, catch up for coffee with a friend (you can use your phone to organise this the day before), play a board game, bake, garden, declutter your wardrobe and cupboards, fill out your paper planner or calendar, play with pets, complete a DIY project, and so much more.
If you can think of another tech free activity, leave it in the comments!
17. If it takes less than 10 minutes, Do it NOW
We've all said to ourselves, 'I'll do that later', only for later to become days, weeks, sometimes even months later.
Start by asking yourself, 'Can I do this in less than 10 minutes?' If the answer is yes, and you're not already late to work, then the answer is, 'Do it now!'
This might mean hanging up the clothes you're not wearing at the moment, taking out the rubbish instead of letting it overflow, and doing the dishes so that you have space in the sink.
Doing the small things in the moment often helps free up a lot of time in the long run.
18. Pre-prepare an Essentials Kit
This is great to help prepare you for the surprises in life. You can make an essentials kit for almost anything. Want something for your car? You could put together a first aid kit, together with sunscreen, a towel, hat and an empty water bottle.
How about something for your handbag? Some lip balm, hand cream, sunscreen, band aids, pain killers, hair ties, Sunshine Hair Mist, and spare sunglasses can be a great buffer for sunburn, too.
19. Focus on Getting Good Sleep
There are plenty of ways to help your mind to relax before sleep. Here are some tips that may help you get a better night's rest:
- Turn off your phone an hour before bed.
- Stay away from sugary snacks so close to bedtime.
- Don't drink caffeinated in the evening.
- Read a book. This is just a good way of staying away from your phone, but it can also become a great routine to get yourself settled into the mindset that it's time for rest.
20. Read a Book a Month
On the topic of reading... spending the time to read instead of watching something on the TV has long since gone out of fashion. However, you may find yourself enjoying a good book instead of endlessly scrolling through a streaming service and somehow never finding the right thing to watch.
Bibliotherapy, on the other hand, is quickly growing in popularity. It's the practice of choosing and reading a book based on your current state of mind. For example, you could simply feel bored, but reading a Steven King thriller, or a romantic comedy could liven things up perfectly!
21. Start Pursuing that Career Ambition
Has there been a hobby that you've always wanted to turn into a business? Maybe you've never had the time to do it before, or maybe you'll have some more free time soon. Whether you're working part time or full time, start dedicating some time in your week towards your goal. Maybe you could do an hour each night? Or get up 30 minutes earlier before work?
22. Create & Keep a Habit Tracker
With all of the resolutions that you're now weighing up, it's a good idea to think about how you can keep up with what you have progressed/abstained from.
This, more often then not, helps to motivate you. It shows us how far we've come, and it gives some measure to help see how beneficial it's been for us. Has learning to bake helped you to eat less processed foods, only to increase your sugar intake exponentially?
On the flip side, you could discover that while you thought cutting out soft drinks wasn't that beneficial, you've now noticed those pimples are gone!
22.1 Look Back on all that You've Accomplished the Year Before
I couldn't help myself - this had to be included. It's easy to only look ahead at what we don't have, rather than remember we do have. So, ask yourself, what have you accomplished?
What projects did you complete? Classes finished? Friendships made? Recipes learnt? Books read? Muscle gained? Hobby found? Dream discovered? Home schooled?
I implore you to write down everything you did, before you write down what you want to do for the New Year. You might find that you had already tried something similar to what you're thinking of pursuing, and can now gauge whether you want to continue, or just tackle it from a different angle.
And that's all from our list of New Years Resolution ideas!
Have you ever pursued these suggestions? How'd you go with them? If you have some extra ideas, we'd love to hear them in the comments! Xx