One of the hardest parts of the New Year is keeping up with the near-impossible resolutions we all try our best to uphold. For me, it always seems to feel like those first few weeks are the most productive, and then suddenly, everything begins to fall apart!
Habits that I thought I’d picked up slowly become tiring and monotonous, and the novelty of a new routine loses its glamour. To try and avoid that little stint, I’ve compiled a few specific healthy habits that have helped me improve my well-being and allowed me to keep up with my resolutions!
- Switching “Doom-scrolling” for Podcasting
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Emma Chamberlain. This woman has been a true lifesaver for me over the past few years, opening my eyes to things that — time and time again — I’ve chosen to neglect. Honestly, it’s really hard to take advice from people, but listening to a podcast while doing my everyday tasks helps me feel productive. For me, podcasts have taught me a lot about myself, and they’ve allowed me to open myself up to becoming a more focused, healthy, and productive person. Chamberlain’s podcast, anything goes, is a great example of a self-improvement podcast full of simple life advice.
A lot of the healthy habits that I’ve picked up and maintained have truly been influenced by Chamberlain’s advice sessions, so if you haven’t already, I highly recommend giving it a listen. However, if advice podcasts aren’t your thing, an informational podcast or even a little gossip podcast are great alternatives for media intake that allow us to foster a longer attention span as opposed to media like TikTok!
- Avoiding my Phone for 30 Minutes Every Morning
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This hack has been a lifesaver for me in the mornings, and it’s truly allowed me to perfect my morning routine. I know it sounds like one of those randomly specific tips you’d hear an influencer drop during their GRWM, but I swear it’s had insane benefits for me. Starting this year, I created the habit of leaving my phone untouched for the first 30 minutes of my day, allowing myself to be comfortable getting ready and doing my routine without the droning of a TV show or TikTok playing in the background.
Honestly, I didn’t realize how beneficial this would be until I got used to the routine and began to recognize how often I tried to avoid silence. I’m sure this is a habit the majority of our generation has picked up, and it’s not necessarily a terrible thing because our multitasking as a group is out-of-this-world, but I’ve managed to become more comfortable with boredom. If this aligns with a resolution regarding your screen time, this simple start to my day has been a great motivator to limit my screen time altogether!
- Improving my Sleep Habits
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Improving sleep habits is honestly so much easier said than done, but it’s extremely worth it. I spent years of my life waking up at five or six in the morning for high school classes and then not getting to bed until 11 or 12 p.m. every night, and I consistently felt exhausted. It wasn’t until I came to college that I began to take my sleep into my own hands and noticed a change. It took me a few tries, but I found my perfect wake-up time and routine that allows me to get up in the morning feeling energized and ready for my day!
Eight hours of rest a night has been the best for my body, but this may not be an attainable or necessary goal for everyone; that’s why I began using sleep apps like “Rise Sleep” to track my sleeping habits. Sleep seems like a silly thing to attempt to control because we can sleep when we’re dead, right? I thought like that for the longest time until I truly created a healthy relationship with my sleep schedule, and now I feel as productive as ever.
- Start Walking!
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Walking. Is. Amazing! I have a friend who shockingly walks between 10 to 12 miles a day. Every single day, that girl gets out and walks around Doak Campbell Stadium in loops as soon as the sun comes up, makes her way through campus, and heads back to her dorm all before classes start. For some of us, that’s a mind-blowing habit because it takes discipline to be that active by choice and at such an early time! She was the influencer regarding my choice to start walking because her commitment to walking daily really inspired me to start doing the same for myself.
It seems silly, but walking is such a good thing for your body. Especially living on a college campus like FSU, where trails are easily accessible, walking is a no-brainer if you need some sort of fitness routine to add to your life. The best part is that you can walk at whatever pace you’d like, whenever you’d like, and for however long you’d like.
New Year’s resolutions are hard. I continue to struggle with my own, but it’s a yearly commitment, and it’s not impossible to keep up with our commitments; we just have to look at the foundation first and try to make it as easy as possible for us to reach our goals! Here’s to a new year, new goals, and new achievements!
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