We all want a successful and happy new year. Here are five tips that can help you get there.
January is the month for resolutions and positivity. It’s the time of the year where we make lofty promise to ourselves, such as avoiding McDonald’s and finally doing that thing that we’ve been meaning to do for the past five years.
While our New Year’s promises tend to get a little out of hand, there’s nothing wrong with aiming high, especially when it comes to our happiness.
Working on having a positive mood will make everything in your life better. If you’re happy you’ll have better relationships, better work performance, more productivity, and energy to get things done. Here are 5 ways that can help you feel more at ease and be happier in 2020:
Conquer one anxiety at a time
Start off slow by selecting one anxiety and trying your best to control it. Think of something prevalent in your life that holds you back from doing other things and enjoying yourself to the fullest. The Huffington Post recommends selecting an anxiety, choosing a reward to treat yourself afterwards and facing it.
“The thing to keep in mind is that very often happiness is found just on the other side of a doorway guarded by our anxieties,” says clinical psychologies Forrest Talley. “And the new year is a great time to start kicking down some doors.”
Develop a better sleep schedule
Sleep hygiene is very important and hard to maintain. Try your best to develop a routine before you go to bed, ensuring that you’re clocking in your eight hours and that you go to bed at the same time every night (for the most part). Better sleep habits will make you feel more rested and vitalized, especially when you commit to them over long periods of time.
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Limit your unhealthy habits
List out some of your unhealthy habits and do your best to cutback on them. If the list gets too overwhelming, try working on the most pressing behaviors, the ones that influence your life the most, and limiting them. The less habits you have to deal with the better and less stressed out you will be.
Practice mindfulness
We tend to spend way too much time worried about the future or about past behaviors, often forgetting to enjoy the moment. While “staying present” is great advice, it’s not the most practical. Try to meditate and to practice mindfulness in increasing amounts; do it a couple of times a week until you’re able to do it once a day.
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Try to get off the “hedonic treadmill”
The hedonic treadmill is a theory that states that whatever happens to us, we tend to revert to our base state of happiness, no matter the event that occurs — be that buying a house, getting a new job or getting married. So why not increase your happiness baseline? Psychology Today recommends maintaining your new level of happiness by switching things up and introducing new activities to your repertoire.
