January is not the nicest month of the year. It can often be a mix of both pros and cons. The pros are that you are at the beginning of a brand new year. You feel like you have the chance to wipe the slate clean, start again, and really focus on the things you want to do. However, the cons can be that you can feel a little down and even depressed at times.
The weather isn’t great, it’s cold, dark and miserable. The bills are suddenly landing on your doorstep because you may have overindulged during the festive period, and you can feel like all you want to do is close the door on life and wake up in the spring. You are not alone.
Many people use the new year as a chance to make some goals and resolutions and try and plan the changes they want to make. But often, if things don’t happen in that first week, you forget about it or move on.
The truth is, you don’t need to start on the first day of the month, January is month one, so use the whole month to make some changes and focus on exactly what will serve you well this year. There is still time. So here are some ideas to help you get started.
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Become a healthier version of yourself
As the first day has been and gone, out doesn’t mean that health can’t be a priority for you this year. Many people start extreme diets or detoxes in January, but the truth is, these are just not sustainable on a long-term basis. So why not make the decision to be a healthier version of yourself?
Look at the food you eat and choose to have a more balanced approach. You could even look at changing your diet such as trying a vegetarian or vegan way of life instead. There are many health benefits for doing this and could be a long term goal and change for the new year ahead.
Make a choice to be more active
While you may be looking at your diets, you might also like to be physically fit and able. Many people join a gym in January, and have great intentions, but at the same time, you need to ensure that you can keep it up and a lot of people lose momentum and get a little bored when they don’t feel great straight away. Instead, why not choose to be more active.
It could be that you walk somewhere one day, and do a gym session the next. It might be that you choose to take the stairs one day and then attend a class on another. As long as you choose to be active each and every day then you will start to see a real difference.
Is it time to finally tackle the things that could be holding you back?
Are there habits in your life that now need some focus to diminish? We all have vices that we would like to stop, and now this could be the year that you choose to do it.
Maybe you want to stop drinking, or perhaps change your relationship with alcohol a little. Maybe you need some serious help when it comes to things like drugs where expert help could be the answer. It might be that you want to quit smoking as you know that it could be causing you health problems now or in the future.
Whatever it is that you feel is holding you back, take actionable steps to get to next year without them in your life. It might feel like a long road, but it could be the best thing you do.
Maybe your career needs to be changed
Do you need to think about a career change this year? Again this is something that just can’t be changed in that first week of January. You need to be able to figure out exactly what you want to do, understand the steps to make it happen, and then have the courage to make it your reality. It could be that you need to study more to help you achieve the qualifications necessary.
Having steps in front of you makes it easy to stay on track and finally achieve what it is you want to do when it comes to your career. We all spend such a big amount of time working, so it would be nicer to enjoy and feel passionate about what we do.
Let’s hope this has inspired you to make some changes for the year ahead.
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