Monday Musings: Make Your Resolutions Stick

Welcome to ‘Monday Musings’!

A new segment from Teenplicity, ‘Monday Musings’ will explore personal interests and thoughts in a multitude of ways. Whether it be through lists, fan interaction, or discussion posts, each week will offer a different topic and new perspective from Teenplicity about what is on our mind. The range of topics, just like our interests, will be vast. Some might be familiar, as it could highlight previous feature stars, while others will discuss uncharted subjects for Teenplicity. They might be fun posts with a silly twist or a more serious discussion about something that could concern you.

The goal is for Teenplicity to become more engaged and involved with our readers. The Teenplicity Team is made up of fans, just like you. Let us know what you care about – a show, a film, music, an event or aspect of your life. There are no limits for what can be explored in ‘Monday Musings’ or how we present it to you.

It’s that time of year again! Kind of. Welcome to the new year! We are at the moment in time when people make resolutions to better themselves or cut bad habits, most of which we fail to do.

You’re not alone – most resolutions fail.

In 2015, clinical psychologist of over forty years Joseph Luciani, Ph.D, best selling author of a self-coaching series, said that over 80% of people give up on their New Year’s resolutions by the second week of February. Forbes in 2013 said that only 8% of people actually achieve their goal.

A lack of self-control, a too big of a goal, and various other factors all reason into why these resolutions aren’t achieved.

I will be the first to admit that I am terrible with keeping my New Year’s resolutions. Honestly, I rarely followed through with giving up whatever I said I would during Lent so expecting me to follow through with something for an entire year? I should have known better. But I want to change that in 2019.

My 2019 New Year’s Resolution.

My New Year’s resolution is to eat healthier.

There’s not a specific reason as to why I chose this. I simply am just a terrible eater and would like to better myself as well as do better for my body.

Anyone in my family can confirm that I am a horrible eater. I honestly think that any dietitian who saw what I ate on the daily would crawl up in a corner and cry. It is just junk – absolutely terrible, and probably disgusting to anyone who actually cares about what they eat, junk.

I am really dedicated to doing this in 2019 though.

Slowly, in 2017 and 2018, I worked a few things out of my regular diet in order to get a better feeling for eating healthier. In late 2017, when I started a new job that was physically intensive and I needed to drink lots of water to stay hydrated throughout my shifts, I made the switch from tons of soda to just water, with some Gatorade mixed in to help me regain any electrolytes lost during work. Knowing that I needed to drink more water – and feeling the positive effect that more water in my system had on my body – really made it easier to cut soda almost entirely out of my diet.

In 2018, as the heat started kicking up in Florida and I knew that I would be outside in the insanely hot temperatures as I worked, I focused more on eating food that would fill my stomach and also keep my energized and feeling good throughout my shift. This slipped into my day-to-day life even outside of work. By getting into a mentality of wanting fuller meals that didn’t leave myself feeling sluggish and blah afterwards helped me really cut down on going to fast food joints.

That all said, I’m not perfect with my diet – in fact, I am far from it. As great as it’s been that I severely cut down soda and fast food from my diet, the problem lies with my food at home. I go for taste in my snacks rather than nutritional value. But I’m learning that you don’t have to give up taste to eat well. It just definitely doesn’t help that I’m a really picky eater.

While my big meals like lunch and dinner would generally be chicken, steak, or some other kind of meat, my snacks in-between – because I am a perpetual snacker – would be food of the least amount of nutritional value ever. I’m talking ice cream, Yodels, Cheez-Its, popcorn, cookies. And that’s what I want to change in 2019.

I want to eat healthier snacks. I want to make sure that I don’t fill myself on junk all the time and that I’m trying to be better for my body. I feel it sometimes, when I’m eating those unhealthy snacks, that my body is disappointed in me. At least it feels that way in the sense that it decides it doesn’t want to do anything and just be blah.

So, I am determined to improve my diet to be much healthier.

This is how we will accomplish this.

The advice here is going to go across the platform for many resolutions. Keep in mind that while it may work for some, you should adjust and do what you feel is best for you to achieve your goals.

Moderation. Yes, moderation is key.

It sounds silly and so incredibly simple but it’s so important.

Self-control, or lack thereof, is honestly one of the biggest downfalls in completing New Year’s resolutions. If you set your goal to be too unattainable then it’s no wonder as to why it fails. Working in moderation not only helps you to reach your goal but it also helps you maintain your self-control.

Start small.

Starting small is so important. When you set a goal that can be reached and you achieve it, it gives you that much more hope for moving forward to the next one and then the next and so forth.

When it came to changing my liquids from soda to water in my diet, I started with one meal a day. Instead of having soda at a meal like dinner, I would grab a bottle of water. This is something small and achievable. I knew I had other meals I could have soda for, but I wanted to make sure that for at least one, I had water instead.

The same is if you want to curse less, work out more, or lose weight. With cursing, substitute a word for one of the ones you want to use less. Fudge is a pretty popular one but feel free to think of your own. With working out, you could start by going to a gym or walking two or three times a week for a half hour. From there, you can move up to longer times or more frequent visits. If you want to lose weight, don’t automatically go for your end goal. Start with five pounds, maybe. Once you reach that goal, you can then add a couple more. Losing five pounds total then ten pounds total then fifteen pounds total is a lot less intimidating and frustrating than going out of the gate with fifteen. You’ll get mad at yourself if you’re not hitting that goal quick enough.

Add to it.

As you see yourself adjusting your daily life to these small alterations, it becomes much easier to add a little bit to it or expand on it.

A man who was featured on ABC News for his massive weight loss and diet change shared his secrets of moderation. He talked about how he cut out the unhealthy aspects of his life little by little each week, one part at a time. The better you get at sticking to your goal, the more you can add to it.

Starting small makes the next steps that much more achievable. When I’m thinking about how I want to eat healthier in 2019, I think about what I might do to help myself. I’ve started by not buying most of the unhealthy snacks I usually get while at the grocery store. While I did still get a couple, the amount of which I grabbed were significantly lowered. The next time I go, I plan on buying even less and focusing on the new snacks I will be enjoying.

Maintaining it.

This is the hardest for anyone who makes a New Year’s resolution. Maintaining your goal has a couple factors built into it, like self-control, feasibility, and support.

A support system is what works really well for anyone who feels like their focus or self-control might slack. Getting a buddy to workout with you, whether at the gym or just around the house or neighborhood, does wonders for your mentality. But make sure it’s one that will be there to encourage you to continue on and not to fall back into bad habits. You and your buddy will be supporting each other, pushing for the other to do their best, and knowing that while skipping a day every once in a while can be good for your mentality and body, shouldn’t become a habit.

The same goes for any other resolution. Support will bring you a long way through.

The Internet can be your friend.

Internet is basically a public diary which is a good and bad thing. But use this to your advantage in 2019. Use it to keep updates about your progress or to have friends ask you about your progress. The Internet is full of lots of advice too, if you know the right sources. Notable news websites like ABC, CNN, etc. are sure to be loaded with articles of how to make your resolutions much easier to be achieved.

You can also use the Internet to share your progress, talk with others who are doing similar things, and create a network and support system to further each person’s goals. Plus, if you’re posting daily or weekly updates, it will be encouragement to keep going on with your work.

Google is also wonderful for cooking. As I work towards my goal, I will definitely be utilizing Google to find recipes that cater to my tastes and the foods that I like, instead of the many cookbooks that are too general and sometimes don’t offer enough.

It’s just another resource that you can navigate to help you throughout the year.

You’ve got this.

It’s tough. Things will be tempting and habits are hard to break but you can do this. I believe that you can and I hope you hold out hope that you can too.

If you feel it might help you, then go ahead and tweet me about your progress. You can send me whatever you feel might help you to keep going with your resolution (as long as it’s appropriate). And hey, if you are making a resolution to use your phone less, you can even just send me the activity stats for your phone for that week.

Regardless, you’ve got this. I’m there behind you, cheering you on all the way. Start small then continue in moderation. I believe in you.

Did you like ‘Monday Musings’? If so, you’re in luck! Each week, Teenplicity will feature a new ‘Monday Musings’ post about things we are looking forward to, topics close to our hearts, or suggestions from readers!

Do you have a suggestion for ‘Monday Musings’? You can let Teenplicity know what you’d like to see on Twitter or anonymously on Tumblr! Or you can directly contact Mary Ayers on Twitter and anonymously on Tumblr or Brie Garrett on Twitter and Tumblr

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