We all come up with our New Years resolutions and we always plan to keep them…but do we actually? It might only take a few days or a few months but usually our habits stay with us and we try to have the same resolution the next year and do it all over again. Here are some realistic resolutions that you might actually be able to keep for the whole year!!
1.Limit your social media use.
Instead of completely deleting Instagram and Snapchat or going on a 3 month social media cleanse, sometimes it is better and more manageable to just not use it as much. There are so many easy ways to do this. You can track how much you use your phone every day and that can show you how much you are using your social media apps and can help you lessen the amount of hours per day. Another way is to keep yourself busy with other habits and maybe limiting yourself to checking social media at night or only in the morning. This can become a habit and then instead of fully deleting yourself from these apps, you can just use them less and less until they aren’t as important anymore!
2. Find a new hobby.
This resolution is easy because all you have to do is find something interesting and turn it into a fun thing you can do when you are bored. This resolution also ties into learning something new because the activity you learn might become your new hobby. From learning a new sport to finding a new book to read, there are countless new things you can try to make 2020 a better year!
3. Be healthier.
A lot of the times, we tend to set the bar too high for ourselves and make our resolution to not eat candy or lose a lot of weight. This tends to not be super realistic because it is hard to switch your old habits in a day. Instead of forcing yourself to not eat any candy, which will probably last less than a month, just eat healthier in general. Start cooking healthier meals, try going to the gym, and order a salad instead of a juicy burger! You don’t need to push yourself too hard but if you slowly change certain unhealthy habits, you become a healthier person in general and these healthy habits last a lifetime! Even getting a calorie counting app is a great and fun way to track what you are eating.
4. Spend less.
During the holidays, everyone always feels they have spent way too much money and want to stop spending money at all in the new year. Instead of forcing yourself to stop shopping or stop eating out, it is easier to create a weekly or monthly budget for yourself. With this way, you can gift yourself from time to time with clothes or a nice night out with friends, but you are also not stressing over being a broke college student. Another way is to get a job! I work at my on campus job 7 hours a week. Getting that extra spending money is nice and is very rewarding.
5. Set small goals.
Finally, a very important resolution to have is setting small goals throughout the year. Everyone tends to set a huge goal to be happy and we set the bar too high for ourselves. Instead of your goal being to get a specific job out of college, make a smaller goal to just get a job and then go from there. Instead of a goal being to get married in the next five years, set smaller goals for yourself and that will decrease stress. It is also important to not base your overall happiness on if you have reached your goal. You don’t want to feel like you failed and are unhappy if you don’t meet your goal.
Remember these five and hopefully we all can try these resolutions for 2020!