If you are staring at the new year with a feeling of motivation and positivity, congratulations! This is undoubtedly the best way to look at the new year because it means that everything is possible. Why not use the turning of the calendar to embrace the opportunity for a fresh start in the New Year? There are many ways to do that, which is the best part. Perhaps you want to address your diet through enhanced allergy and intolerance testing but don’t know how to design a goal. Maybe you want to go after better mental health but aren’t sure how to embrace this change. We have just what you need below for a year loaded with potential.
The connection between changes and habits
First, let’s address the connection between making a change and how it relates to habits. Is there even a connection? Yes, as it turns out. If you want to make a meaningful change in your life (especially a big change), creating a habit is the best way to do that. Habits are things that we do each day, after all, so transforming our desired change into a daily habit makes perfect sense. The best change results in the New Year will involve forming habits.
How to design a healthy, fresh start
As you face this fresh start, you’ll want to use this as an opportunity to be your best, healthiest self. The actual details of that fresh start will vary depending on what you most want to achieve. But you’ll want to start it small, with simple and practical goals that help you understand your priorities. Let’s take a look at a few examples.
Eating and living healthier
Many of us have some sort of New Year’s resolution to have a healthier life. Some focus on fitness, others on diet, and many on both. Instead of making a drastic change to only eat a Mediterranean diet or go to the gym five days a week, break it down further. It’s not that these aren’t admirable; they’re just huge changes that can be hard to maintain.
If your goal is to eat healthier, start with enhanced allergy and intolerance testing so that you can understand what “healthy” is for your body. Then, design one meal a week that you consider healthy. When you’re used to that, add in another, and so on. This makes eating healthy a habit.
If you are more into fitness, figure out what you want to do to exercise (running, weight lifting, swimming, etc.). Then add in 1 30-minute workout per week. Once that feels okay as a habit, add in a second night a week.
With both of these, you can see how you’ll take the same approach, form the same habit, and achieve the same goal! As hard as it might feel, you’ll need to be patient with the progress so that it has time to become a healthy habit.
Prioritising mental health
What about something as challenging to isolate as mental health? After all, you can’t just eat an apple or go for a run. If you want to make better mental health a priority, you’ll focus more on things like seeking counseling or online CBT. You might need to create a healthy habit for your mental health by prioritising self-care and working fewer hours, if possible.
While mental health seems less tangible than other types, it is certainly just as achievable with the proper focus, steps, and routine.
Tips for embracing change
If you’re like most people, even the thought of changing your life, as discussed above, seems terrifying. If you are looking at embracing your desire for a fresh start in the New Year, you’ll need to embrace that change for the best results. Not sure how to do that? Use these tips to guide you!
Acknowledge your fear
If you address that you are scared, it can help lessen how it feels. Acknowledging your fear will help you admit that you are feeling it, and that will help you start dealing with it in a way that feels authentic and kind to yourself. For example, if you are nervous about enhanced allergy and intolerance testing results, admit it to yourself. Say something like, “I’m nervous I’m going to be allergic or intolerant to my favourite food.” (or whatever that fear is for you). Doesn’t it feel better to get it out there in the air? Of course, it does!
See failure as part of the process
If you see a speck of failure in your journey, it’s easy to feel that the entire venture is a failure. But failure is part of the process, and it’s a lesson that you can learn from. Don’t see failure as anything other than a stepping stone toward a profitable future for your intended goal!
Don’t see the plan set in stone
Sometimes, you will start working on a plan and then have to change it to make it better for you. If your plan for a healthy habit is set in stone, it is hard to adapt it to be better for your needs. Make sure to keep your plan flexible enough to change it as you settle in and feel it working.
Getting a fresh start in the New Year means figuring out what you want that to mean and what you want it to look like. These tips will help you design the right pathway to healthy habits and encourage you to embrace meaningful change for a successful, healthy, and happy future. Remember our allergy intolerance testing can play a massive part in your 2024!
