Four Healthy Habits I Want to Start in 2021
Here’s my list of healthy habits I want to stick within 2021 — to help me grow and inspire you for your own goals.
2021 is just around the corner with that I think every one of us is so ready for it. Maybe it’s only because of the past year, however, for me, this feeling of a new beginning shines extra bright this time.
Of course, everyone can change anything every day — you don’t need a new week, month or year. But there is something about this feeling of excitement and motivation to change your old patterns when the new year is just around the corner. It just feels magical, somehow.
Likewise, I feel like 2020 as it was, thought me so much and helped me change many old patterns. Maybe that’s also what comes into play.
To honour that feeling of magic and to make use of this peak of motivation I wrote down my goals and dreams for 2021. Who do I want to become? What are my goals for this year? I came up with four things along with the feeling they can also inspire you to define your wishes and goals for the new year.
1. Meditation
Maybe this one seems to be pretty vanilla at first, but let me explain. I know meditating seems so 2015. Everyone is already practising it successfully. Or are these? For me, meditating has always been something I read and hear about everywhere but never met someone who truly loved to meditate. The typical answer I got when it came to meditation was “that’s not for me” or “I don’t have the time or patience for that”- and so said I.
Living in a fast-moving world, always doing something and feeling stressed 90% of the time I constructed now: this is neither healthy nor do I want it to be like this. Plus, I never gave meditation a fair chance. So next year I will be, free of all biases this time.
2. Reading
Reading is one of these habits everyone had on his resolutions-list at least once before. At first, there seems to be nothing new about it. But for me, it’s different this time. My perspective on reading changed because of an article in a magazine I read recently. Therein the author explained that we need reading to fire up our fantasy. And in turn, we need our imagination to on the one side grow because we can imagine our future self. On the opposite hand, we need this imagination to achieve all our goals because we are getting creative. So next year I want to read at least 15 minutes per day. Regarding this habit, it’s not about how much I read it is about what I read. Much more about finding my future self and using books to help me grow my imagination. Furthermore, grow me and my future self.
3. Spending time with loved ones
That is something 2020 thought me the hard way. I learned that nothing is in any way sure or controllable. We always push these things in the back of our minds, thinking we will have enough time next week or next month to show some love and affection to the one that matters to us. But being confronted with everything that happened in 2020 I now realised that we are not allowed be certain about if we’ll even have tomorrow to tell our loved ones how important they are to us. So, for 2021 I want to call my grandparents, parents and siblings more often to simply tell them about my day or what’s on my mind right now. Thereby it’s not always about deep conversations, much more is about spending time with them and letting them feel that I care.
4. Exercising
And the last one, the only habit I find on my list every year: exercising more. The good old classic, I know. And what should I say? This year it’s also about changing perspective regarding this habit. I used to think of it as “next year I am going to run a marathon” or “next year I’m going for a run every day for at least an hour”. Well, obviously that didn’t work. Getting older and wiser, I realised this year it is not about how extreme we pursue a goal. It’s not about growing beyond my limit and then being so destroyed that I can’t even move my body properly for the next two weeks. It is much more about being consistent. Consistency is key when it comes to creating habits that stick with us. So next year I set myself the simple goal to move at least three times a week for 20 min. Thereby it can be anything from yoga to going for a run or doing a boxing class. I do not pursue a specific sportive goal anymore. Furthermore, I want to concentrate on simply moving my body regularly to feel confident and balanced.
To sum it up, 2020 was one of those years that thought me a lot for the year that is ahead of me. Not only about myself but also about how I see others and how I value time. It changed my perspective in many ways. But from my point of view, it sure was for the better.
So, 2021 I am ready for you.
Hoping you will teach me just as much.
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