10 New Year’s Resolutions You Can Actually Keep

It happens every year. You promise yourself this is the year you will make a New Year’s resolution and stick to it. But let’s face it: you usually break it by February. Luckily, these are 10 New Year’s resolutions you can actually keep!

1. Spend more time with family and friends.

You’re busy, I’m busy, we’re all busy. We should make resolutions this year to spend more time with our loved ones, regardless of how busy we are. At the end of the day, our family and friends are the ones that will be there with unconditional love and support.

2. Learn something new every day.

The world is full of knowledge, so why not take advantage of that and learn something new every day? It doesn’t have to be something out of textbook, it can be something as simple as learning how to change a light bulb. You can never have too much knowledge, and the more you know, the more you’re able to teach others as well.

3. Enjoy life more.

An art docent curator once told me, “Sometimes I think we try to put too much meaning into way too many things.” I believe that 100%. We spend our time stressing over way too many things and put in effort into things that sometimes don’t even matter. Instead, we should spend our time appreciating the world’s beauty and the beauty of those within. We only live once right?

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4. Help others.

The phrase “pay it forward” has never held so much truth. Do a random act of kindness everyday for someone, it can be someone you know or a complete stranger, but the important thing here is to help others. It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture; it can be something as simple as smiling at someone down the hallway or opening the door for a stranger. No matter the gesture, I’m sure the other person will appreciate it.

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5. Attempt to stay organized.

Notice I said, “attempt” to stay organized. This is probably one of the most common resolutions on everyone’s list and also probably one of the ones that is broken the most. Everyone says that they are going to be organized in the New Year and then somewhere along the way they lose track of one thing and then another, and another, and well, you get the picture. Instead of trying to organize everything at once, try organizing small parts of your busy day and go from there.

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6. Smile more.

It has been scientifically proven that if you smile more you are more likely to be happy and have a positive outlook on life. So why not make one of your resolutions to smile more? Smile at your friends, at people that you love, smile at strangers. Just smile. Happiness is contagious and if people see you smiling then they’re likely to smile too. You’d want someone to smile at you after a rough day, so why not do the same for someone else? Definitely one of the easiest New Year’s resolutions you can actually keep.

7. Schedule some “me” time.

If you’re like me, your schedule is packed 24/7, and more often than not, you find that you are running yourself ragged and exhausted by the end of each day. Being constantly busy means that you hardly find time just to yourself. Don’t get me wrong, being surrounded by people you like and care about is great and all, but we all could use some alone time every now and then. Even if it’s just for an hour in which you take a nice long bubble bath or make yourself a nice hot meal and catch up on the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy; be sure to make some time for you, and you only. Your body and mind will thank you later.

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8. Drink more water.

We all know that we should drink at least 8 glasses of water every day. Do we all actually drink those eight glasses though? By drinking more water, we’ll live a healthier lifestyle and will feel better overall. Water is a great source of energy and we should all make an effort to drink more water in 2016. Fun fact: 50 to 75% of our body is made up of water. If you stick to it, this is one of the New Year’s resolutions you can actually keep!

9. Believe in yourself.

This resolution is probably one of the most important ones on this list. If you believe in yourself there isn’t anything or anyone that can stop you from reaching your goals. By believing in yourself, your confidence and self worth will grow abundantly. Once you believe in yourself you can do anything you set your mind to.

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10. Be positive.

Having a positive outlook on things will open a lot more doors and will improve your state of being. We all have our bad days but we have to remember to look at the brighter side of things and realize that things could always be worse…. but they’re not. We should be optimistic and realize the true value of the things that matter in our lives.