The new year is almost here, and residents at our Tulsa homes for rent are sure to be pondering their New Year’s resolutions. But for many, New Year’s resolutions turn out to be little more than wishful thinking. And keeping a resolution while we are still in the midst of “unprecedented times” can be doubly challenging. Why is keeping your resolution so hard? And how do you pick resolutions that you can actually commit to?

We haven’t perfected the New Year’s resolution by any means, but we do have a few tips to keep your resolutions throughout the year. First, avoid resolutions that you truly dread. If you don’t want to do it, you’ll find excuses to let it fall by the wayside. Next, make sure your resolution is specific, measurable, and reasonable. For example, if your goal is to drink more water, be specific about how much water you want to drink and make sure that amount isn’t leaps and bounds ahead of your current habits. Better to establish a sustainable habit that eventually leads you to go above and beyond than to shoot for perfection and feel defeated when it’s hard to make the adjustment.

Ready to put those tips into action? Here are some New Year’s resolution ideas that could fit the bill for 2022.

Try New Foods

Trying new foods is a great way to push past your comfort zone, visit new restaurants (if it’s safe to do so), learn new recipes, diversify your diet, and have fun. To make this goal measurable, consider setting a desired frequency or total new foods count. For example, “I want to try six new foods this year,” or “I want to try a new food every month this year.”

Complete a Reading Challenge

Do you wish you read more but have trouble making it a priority? Try setting a reading goal for the year! Platforms like Goodreads even have this functionality built in, making it easy to track your progress and see if you’re on track as long as you have set up an account (which is free). Start small and choose a number of books (or poems, comics, magazines, whatever!) that is reasonable for you.

Meditate Once A Week

Many of us have heard how beneficial meditation can be, but it’s not always easy to maintain a habit. If you’d like to meditate more, start small so that you build up a habit that’s actually sustainable—15-20 minutes once a week is a great start. If you find yourself liking it, you can always increase the frequency or length of your meditation to reap even more benefits.

Donate or Volunteer Once a Month

We all have causes we believe in and it’s easy to reach the end of the year wishing you’d done more to help. A great New Year’s resolution is to commit to a schedule of involvement to help keep it top of mind as you go about your busy life. You might choose to set up a recurring donation if you find that to be the most sustainable commitment, or you can volunteer instead, either at the same nonprofit or a variety of nonprofits near our Tulsa homes for rent. You can even mix and match, committing to donating whenever you reach the end of a month without having volunteered. Remember that whatever you do, picking something that is sustainable will allow you to do the most good in the long run rather than overextending yourself and stopping part way through the year.

Stretch A Little Every Day

For most of us, stretching hasn’t been part of our routine in years, but it probably should be. As adults, we easily lose a lot of flexibility and experience the consequences in the form of muscle pain and difficulty with everyday tasks. Stretching alone, even without any exercise, can have a significant impact on your health and quality of life, so adding as little as 5 minutes of stretching to your daily routine—perhaps after you wake up or before you go to sleep—is a great resolution that isn’t hard to put into practice.

That’s it for our New Year’s resolution ideas! If you enjoyed this post, go ahead and bookmark our blog page for easy access to future recommendations, tips, and features. You should also be sure to follow Legacy Living on Facebook so you can stay informed about all the special events, promotions, and updates about our Tulsa homes for rent.