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Whatever season of life you are in, a student on winter break, a young adult going home for the holidays, a parent trying to create all the best memories for your kids, or retired just enjoying what this time has to offer, the winter holidays can bring about sweet time with loved ones, cherished memories, mixed emotions, and total chaos.
While winter break is meant to be a break, it can also easily become the busiest time of the year. With the calendar filling up with parties and gatherings to shopping and holiday prep, the new year can easily creep up on you.
The New Year is seen to symbolize a new beginning. It is a great opportunity to start afresh, so here are five ways to kick off your new self:
1.Self reflect
Self-reflecting is like packing up to move and taking the opportunity to analyze what you will take with you to the new place and what you will leave behind or toss. Ask yourself what do you really need, what can’t you live without, and what is convenient to have. Identify what is now clutter or maybe you have outgrown. What needs to be cleaned, what needs to be reorganized, and what do you have that perhaps you have forgotten about? In other words, think about what you have before focusing on the new you. What were your strengths last year, and what areas do you want or need to improve on moving forward.
2. Create Goals & Get Ready For Growth
The new year always raises the infamous question, “What are your New Year’s resolutions? What are you striving for this year?”
Create goals for yourself; they can be academic, fitness, or spiritual goals. They can be habits you wish to do more or less of and involve the areas you want to grow in. Just make sure that you write it down to hold yourself accountable. Give your goals a time limit so you can plan to achieve them, and keep them measurable to identify when you achieve them. Be realistic, and it never hurts to plan it out.
3. Keep In Mind Your Community & Accountability
Your community is one of your biggest influences on your future. They can direct your decisions, shape your success, and guide your goals. Therefore, remember who you can have to help keep you accountable for working towards your goal and who will help support you in them. The people you keep in your circle is a reflection of the person you want and are trying to be.
4. Maintain The Mindset
Your mindset can make or break whether or not you will continue to work towards your goal for a moment or maintain the positive momentum all year long. Sometimes you need to look at the bigger picture and not be discouraged or overwhelmed by the details. Motivate yourself to see your goal through. After creating your goals, you can create a vision board so that throughout the year or when you feel discouraged, you can reflect on what you are working towards.
You can also motivate yourself daily by focusing on the positive. Each day, you can write at least three to five things you are grateful for and start the day with an attitude of gratitude. And if you are a “list person”, create a checklist and even include the things you have already accomplished so you can feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
5. Renovate Room
Clean out clutter & renovate the room for your goals. It has been said that a cluttered room is a cluttered mind. Reducing clutter can minimize distraction and allow your brain to concentrate on your important tasks this new year. Find a moment to clear some space, reorganize your belongings, and throw out the unnecessary items collecting dust to revamp and refresh your space to make room for the new year and new adventures ahead.