New Year’s Resolutions, No More!
by Taylor Smith, CHOP5 Health & Wellness Blogger
It’s January! You know what that means—New Year’s Resolutions! I was never too fond of ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ because I believe it has lost its meaning. It’s the time of year when most people feel pressured to create resolutions because it’s the expected thing to do. However, most people only focus on their resolutions for a month before they lose interest, get frustrated, or life gets in the way.
But you cannot magically expect things to occur without putting in consistent and purposeful effort, even when it gets difficult. Life is always going to be chaotic, so embrace the chaos my friends!
New Proposition:
Here’s a new proposition for you all: Instead of New Year’s Resolutions, let’s do ‘New Year’s Intentions’. Our physical and mental health are too important to wait until January to start prioritizing. Our bodies are the vessels to our soul. So, let’s make an investment in ourselves by formulating positive intentions every single day to lead us to living our best and most fulfilled lives.
Thinking of ‘New Year’s Intentions’ may be a dreadful task for you. You may be drawing a blank. Or you may be trying to think of the perfect resolutions. I challenge you to pick up a pen and paper and jot down intentions that pop in your head. Nothing is too small or basic to write down. Every intention looks different and has different meaning for you.
How do you want your life to look? How do you want to feel? What actions can you take now that your future self will thank you for? What can you implement into your daily life?
To get your thoughts flowing, I will start us off with listing some examples of my own intentions!
Some of my New Year’s Intentions:
- Stay disciplined in working out and push myself
- Eat a balanced diet (no restrictions and everything in moderation!)
- Be mindful in everything—what I eat, what I say yes to, what I give energy & time to
- Get 7-10 hours of sleep each night
- Read books for fun
- Schedule community service, even if only a couple hours—invite friends
- Train for lacrosse and try things outside my comfort zone
- Reach out to friends amidst the busyness of life
- Find joy in the little things by romanticizing everything
- Believe in myself and act confidently in all endeavors
- Apply face masks to take care of my skin
- Be adventurous and explore beautiful places in my state
- Always make others feel seen and loved
Maybe some of your intentions are like mine, maybe not. Hopefully one of your intentions includes eating a balanced diet and coming to CHOP5 to satisfy your cravings! 🙂 Just as you would be intentional with choosing meal ingredients, you should be intentional with choosing your life’s ingredients!
All in all, create intentions that serve YOUR own needs, not what others envision them to be.
Cheers to a new year and to taking care of and bettering ourselves all year long! Cheers to living intentionally every single day!
Taylor is on the CU Boulder Women’s Division 1 Lacrosse Team, where she is studying Business Administration with a focus on Marketing and Media Studies. Taylor’s passion for health & wellness stems from overcoming two eating disorders, which has taught her that her body is important and how she treats it matters.
Fun Fact! – Taylor has a twin brother named Easton. She’s older by 3 minutes!
