This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CU Boulder chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.
The new year signifies new beginnings and change, something that everyone is afraid of. I personally hate change, but I always welcome it. It means I can become a better version of myself and learn more. As we are a couple of weeks into the new year, I wanted to talk about my ins and outs.
My Ins of 2026:Â
- Eating more fiber (and more vitamins in general)
- As someone with a family history of colon cancer, fiber is incredibly essential. I have been trying to make chia seeds a part of my diet. I love making a vanilla chia seed pudding with granola and pineapples! I honestly feel like I need more vitamins, so that’s in there too!
- Working out more
- Working out is a great way to destress, and with someone who stresses out over the minimalist things, I need it. It also improves heart health and stamina! And feeling better about my body couldn’t hurt either.
- Journaling
- I want to try to put my thoughts onto a piece of paper to lessen stress. If I don’t work out, I at least have to make sure that I am coping healthily.
- Studying for the LSAT
- I plan to go to law school, so studying for the LSAT is the most important thing I need to do for my future.Â
My Outs
- Spending less time on Instagram
- I deleted TikTok two years ago. I sometimes regret it because I had a lot of helpful tips on that pesky clock app. It was also easy to look things up as it was like another version of Reddit. I could hear advice from real people! However, it had started to rot my brain. I felt myself lying down for hours, endlessly scrolling through the videos, giving my brain many boosts of dopamine. I realized it wasn’t healthy, and I deleted it. For a while, I was bored, but it allowed me to focus on something other than my phone. As time went on, I started to get that same dopamine boost with Instagram. Unfortunately, I love Instagram too much to delete. It lets me see how everyone is doing, and I also get to repost stupid memes on my close friends! Instead of deleting it altogether, I started a time limit. This has been working, and I spend about 2 hours (or less) a day on Instagram!
- Lowering the color brightness on my phone
- I am trying to be less attached to my phone. I love playing games, scrolling through Instagram, texting friends, and loved ones. However, the bright colors give my brain another dopamine boost, which I would rather see in the real world. So far, this has worked well enough.
- Binge-eating
- I only have two meals with light snacks in between. I would really like to control my eating habits and practice intuitive eating. Binge-eating is out for 2026
- Stop spending money on unnecessary things
- This is why I’m broke! I need to start budgeting my money better, so I can (semi) afford law school and any other future expenses.
I will honestly work really hard to make sure I am able to complete all of these. It’s a short list but to create habits, I need to smart small and work my way up. I have been trying to work on this since December of last year, and I have found myself to be slightly successful. I hope this gave you some ideas for your own personal ins and outs for 2026!