The beginning of a new year is a great opportunity to focus on creating new habits, trying fun activities, and expanding our capabilities to become even more fulfilled people than we were in the previous year. While it’s true that we can have a fresh start every morning we wake up, there’s something special about a fresh start to a new year.
Maybe it’s time to finally take that cooking class you’ve always wanted to attend or you have a state park you want to visit and check off your bucket list. If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that we must go after the things we want out of life because none of us are promised tomorrow.
Here are 10 tips to help kick off your fresh start.
1. Make a list of new activities you want to try.
If there is a hobby you’ve always wanted to try or a skill you want to become better at, add it to your list of new activities for the year. Keep this list in an easy to view location throughout the year and check off each activity as you complete it. At the end of the year, you’ll see all the fun things you learned how to do.
2. Clean out problem areas of your home and office.
We all have those spots in our homes or offices that collect a bunch of random items that never seem to have a “home.” Clean these problem areas out and give every item its rightful place. A clean space creates a safe place for creativity to flow.
3. Declutter your digital life.
Delete old social media accounts you no longer use, so you don’t one day get hacked. Get rid of old emails you don’t need to keep. Finally, follow through on the digital photo storage plan you’ve been talking about for years. Clean old documents off your computer and back up everything to an external hard-drive and to a cloud-based server.
4. Rearrange furniture for a fresh feel in a room.
Sometimes all it takes is putting a chair in a new spot or swapping out some throw pillows to give a room a fresh, new vibe. This fresh feel can boost your mood or lead to a new way of using a room.
5. Switch up your fitness routine.
If you have been following the same workout routine for a while, chances are it’s getting a little stale. Trade-in your 5 pm Tuesday evening walk around the neighborhood for a socially distanced lunchtime walk with a friend. If you typically participate in yoga classes, swap a class or two for a cycling class. New experiences lead to fresh perspectives, which can boost creativity.
6. Get rid of items you don’t love.
If you have an item laying around the house that doesn’t “spark joy” as Marie Kondo says, allow yourself to part with it. Chances are high that the item you dread looking at may bring joy to someone else’s life. Use the new year as a time to donate unwanted items to create a space you truly enjoy.
7. Start a journaling routine.
This may sound like a broken record, but journaling on a regular basis is not only a healthy mental practice, but it also gives you the opportunity to look back on past experiences to either remember a special moment or to grow from a challenging time. Plus, old journals are the window to your life for the next generation of your family—if you decide to leave them for others to read.
8. Write down what you want for yourself from the year.
We all want to give, receive, or experience certain things throughout the course of the year. Not all of us, however, step out on the ledge and put those things down on paper. Whether you simply start a list of what you want to experience in 2021 or you start a prayer journal to speak with God about the desires you have for 2021, boldly put all your dreams on paper to look back on in a year and see how far you came in 365 days.
9. Make plans that excite you.
Having plans on the calendar that you genuinely look forward to doing is a great way to push yourself through hard or stressful times. These fun plans can be a bright spot that your future self will appreciate. Add a weekend getaway to your schedule or plan a fun day out with your family once a month. Write down any plans on your calendar that excite you.
10. Say “no” when you need to.
The best and healthiest boundary you can set for yourself is to learn how to say “no” to plans you really don’t want or need to do. The more time you can devote to activities, people, and plans you want to do the happier you’ll be.
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