How To Rock Your New Year’s Resolutions

Oh heyyyyy, I’m back! I took this much needed little break from the blog to spend time with my boys, and we really had the best time. We’ve been spending winter break visiting the trampoline park, the Children’s Museum, reading books, visiting family and just having so. much. fun. 

Red Sweater | Tissue Turtleneck | Denim | Flats | Watch c/o | Earrings

We still have a few days of break until my oldest goes back to school, but with Jan 1 on the calendar, it’s time to start refocusing. I’m not a huge resolution person, but this time of year, I do set a few goals to give me something to focus on. I don’t know about you, but the winter tends to get me down. So, using this time of year to set a resolution or a goal, helps me keep my mind focused on something positive, and stay away from those winter blues. Plus, it’s helped me make a few positive changes in my life over the years.  

How To Rock Your New Year’s Resolutions

Set Realistic Goals

I honestly don’t remember if I’ve set a “resolution” every year or not. However, I do recall the few I’ve set, that I actually stuck to. One year I made the resolution to drink only water and ditch my (diet) sodas all together. That resolution did it y’all, I stuck to it, even to this day. Then one year I made it a point to read more, it spawned off into a love a reading and books. Last year I wanted to be more organized. I bought a planner, and streamlined my cabinets, closets and drawers. For the most part, a year later, I’ve stuck to that! 

I find that the goals or resolutions I stick to are simple and attainable. Instead of setting a goal like losing ten pounds, I’ll aim to workout more, or set an amount of time or amount of days I want to focus on working out. I also always try to keep that realistic. I know myself, I’m not going to workout six days a week. Been there, done that, didn’t enjoy it. So, I may set a goal to try and workout 2-4 days a week. If I hit that 2, that’s still hitting it! I’ve made resolutions to eat better in the past. Instead of changing to a strict diet, I focused on one thing at a time. I’ll aim to make my breakfast better, find healthier snacks, or aim to drink more water! 

Make It Positive

Whatever goal or resolution your set for yourself, make sure it’s something positive, that adds to your life. I remember after my first son was born, I set a goal to have a beast set of abs. I followed a multitude of fitness IG accounts for “inspiration” and then I embarked on this fitness and diet journey, basically killing myself and my mental status to look just like them. Only to one day realize, it wasn’t healthy for me, didn’t make me happy, and no matter how much I worked out and deprived myself – I wasn’t going to look like a 5’7″ person when I’m only 4″10. My hips are a little wide, but I can’t change my bone structure. It’s silly looking back on it, but I share in case someone else is doing the same thing. Setting a goal that isn’t positive – or going back to the first point – unattainable, leads to failure which has the total opposite effect. I didn’t give up on fitness, of course, but I changed my goal to just live a healthy and active lifestyle, rather than look a certain way. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve set goals to “be like someone else” in a sense. Not outright said, “I want to be like so and so”, but maybe I’ve wanted to build my wardrobe to look like someone else’s or I’ve wanted to design my home to look just like a Joanna Fixer Upper house. I also can’t tell you how many times I’ve realized how goals like that made me terribly unhappy, because in the end, they weren’t me and it wasn’t positive for me. There is nothing wrong with getting inspiration from someone, but always keep your goals true to who you are.

Make It Fun 

When I wanted to drink more water, I found cute water bottles that made me happy to drink out of. It’s silly, but it worked for me. I would challenge myself to drink a certain amount of them each day. With my personality type that worked really well for me. When I set out to read more books, I also set out to find books and genres I truly loved. Reading more books also helped me achieve other goals, like staying off of my phone, and going to bed earlier. Reading books before bed, always helps me fall asleep, rather than being stimulated by the blue light of my cell phone. I actually have to admit, I took a break from reading earlier this year and over winter break, finally picked up a book I started back in June and finished it. My love has been renewed! Last year when I wanted to be better organized, I bought a Lilly Pulitzer planner. It’s cuteness made me want to carry it around and write in it. When it comes to fitness goals, find workouts you enjoy! You don’t have to do a certain workout to look a certain way. In my experience, a well rounded mix of activity is all you need. I’ve followed countless programs that I didn’t enjoy. One year, I  trained for a half marathon only to realize I didn’t like running very much. I found workouts I enjoyed and, those workouts I didn’t enjoy, didn’t do anything different for my body, than the ones I enjoyed. I’ve been using the Tone It Up app lately and have been enjoying it. I’ll review it more later for anyone interested, but it’s a nice mix of workouts that you can do at home. 

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Whatever goal you’re setting for yourself, good luck girlfriend! My goals going into the new year; get back on track with eating well after the countless amount of Christmas cookies, finally decorate the rest of my house a little, and continue to stay positive and present with my family. Are you a resolution kind of person? What goals are you setting?

-Brooke