Healthy Habits for the New Year!
Dear Friends,
I am so excited to share some ideas I have of healthy habits for the new year with you. These are not just ideas I have for you, these are things I try to implement in my own daily life. Being in good health often makes you happier and more confident which impacts not only you but also your relationships with others. I am so excited about this new year! I don’t know what last year was like for you, but for me and my family, it was amazing in some ways and horrible in other ways, which made it a very trying year. I am ready for a fresh new year filled with possibilities and opportunities and I hope you are too!
I had not really thought about how these wellness habits would be categorized, but I suppose they fit nicely into the popular mind, body, and soul category trio so they will be divided into those three categories. I will be making this into a January series, a week for mind, a week for body, and a week for soul. Throughout the series I will be expanding on some of the suggestions I have for healthy habits to try this year.
The healthy habit ideas I have for your mind for the new year are to:
– Keep a gratitude journal
– Set specific goals with a deadline and break them down into manageable baby steps making them more achievable
– Read at least one book a month
– Learn a new skill
The healthy habit ideas I have for your body for the new year are to:
– Get outside in the sunshine everyday for at least 20 minutes
– Get your bare feet on the ground outside everyday ideally for at least 10 minutes but weather may not be permitting of that so stay for as long as you can reasonably handle it
– Include fermented foods in your daily diet, working up to at least a couple of tablespoons with each meal. This is good for your gut health and your gut is also called your second brain. You could consider learning to make your own fermented foods if you do not already know how.
– Have a cup of herbal tea that you either enjoy or is good for something you would like to enhance your health with such as hibiscus tea for high blood pressure.
– Have a cup of bone broth daily, this is also good for gut health.
– Exercise for 30 minutes daily. I do not mean doing a hard workout at the gym everyday, I mean moving your body daily. Of course do those intense workouts a few days a week if that is feasible, I strongly encourage you to lift weights, but rest days are important too. I am a huge fan of active rest days because you still get some exercise but it is not too strenuous. Some ideas I have for active rest days are going for a walk or an easy hike. You could also do some stretches, doing them outside is lovely. I am personally not a huge fan of yoga but I really enjoy pilates and barre workouts they remind me of when I danced and conditioning from the other extra curricular activities I did in high school and they focus heavily on stretching so if you like me are not a fan of yoga try looking up some stretches from those types of workouts. You could also just play outside with your family or friends, it could be a sport like basketball or soccer, or it could be a fun game like tag or playing with squirt guns or water balloons. Just have fun!
– Do a daily lymphatic massage and bounce onto your toes like calve raises for lymphatic drainage.
– Simplify your diet and consider learning how to cook from scratch if you do not know how to already. This deserves a whole post itself, but the additives that are in our food, here in the United States especially, are really terrible for you and are even banned or come with a warning label in other countries. Do not underestimate how food effects our whole self and how that can effect our relationships, far beyond just our physical appearance. The easiest way to eat well is truly just to make your meals and snacks yourself from whole foods from scratch.
The healthy habit ideas I have for your soul for the new year are to:
– Read your Bible everyday. Devotionals are nice, but there is nothing that can compare to the simple act of just reading your Bible yourself, rather than reading someone else’s commentary on it. I am not discouraging using devotionals or reading commentary or using any study helps at all, I just think that those should be in addition to reading your Bible, not used instead of reading your Bible.
– Pray daily and keep a prayer journal. The journal helps you keep track of the things that you prayed for at different times but it also gives you some insight into how your relationship with God is evolving and changing over time allowing you to adjust it as needed to keep it growing.
– Make a point of reaching out to someone daily to build meaningful relationships. You could call, text, or write a handwritten letter. It could be something you set aside a lot of time for or just a few minutes, depending on the person and the situation. Just let them know you care and want to talk to them.
I hope you try some or all of these healthy habits this year! I will be going more into detail about each of the ideas I have throughout the month and my tips for making them into habits. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are ready for an amazing new year!
Your Friend,
Amanda
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