Eat, Play, Serve and 5 Five More New Year’s Resolutions to Give to Your Recovery
New Year’s resolutions are often easy to make and even easier to break. Research cited in Forbes found that roughly half of Americans make resolutions and only eight percent actually keep them.
It’s possible that this dynamic exists because we worry—or maybe secretly really believe—that a new good habit will make us miserable. So, for example—yes, one jean size smaller in theory would be grand, but that would also mean fewer trips to the Dairy Queen translating to lower decibels of happiness. “Dieting and cutting the carbs is misery,” we think (and often with good grounds).
On that note, I can assure you that the following New Year’s resolutions are worth giving to your recovery, because they really will improve your contentment and life satisfaction. If this list seems overwhelming—and it should be, since there are many great ways to give to your recovery—pick just one item on this list to give to your recovery in 2018; and then try your best to stick with it:
- Eat well, as in three nutritious meals and 1-2 healthy snacks daily.
- Play: seek love and connection by having fun and spending good quality time with others.
- Serve: become a 12-step sponsor or find an outlet in which you can volunteer regularly, even if it is only a minimal weekly time commitment.
- Journal daily— about your goals, dreams, fears, hang-ups, or whatever is on your mind.
- Practice gratitude in the morning when you wake up or at bedtime. An easy way to do this is to identify just three things in the day for which you are thankful.
- Work with balance, by knowing when to shut the workday down. Set some clear boundaries between the office and home.
- Seek solitude: find regular opportunities to read, meditate and be in nature alone.
- Cultivate your spirituality, by praying, meditating, and seeking peace with your Higher Power.
What’s important to keep in mind with any of these new resolutions is that the benefits to your recovery will take time to develop. You probably won’t see them materialize overnight. A good rule of thumb, then, is to give a new habit adequate time to take root. If the habit is eating well, try to be consistent with this daily practice for at least one month. If your new habit is a once-weekly service commitment, it may take longer—maybe at least two months, for example—to evaluate whether the new habit is helping your recovery and improving your quality of life. With a little patience and self-discipline, though, I think you’ll find the familiar adage to be true: that “good things come to those who wait.”