New Years Resolutions 2018
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people make New Year’s Resolutions; a promise to oneself to stop or start a habit for the month of January, or, hopefully, a lot longer. People quit smoking, go on diets or tell themselves that they will wake up half an hour earlier every morning to go for a run. But a lot of these people break their resolutions within a few days. What’s the point of making promises that you know that you won’t be able to keep?
In light of this I have put together a set of realistic resolutions. In fact, they are not really resolutions, because you don’t necessarily have to make any drastic changes to your lifestyle. They are more like little things to keep in mind and try out.
Reduce Your Plastic Use
It is an inconvenient truth that plastic is doing serious damage to the planet. People are growing more aware that plastic is a serious threat to the environment and alternatives are necessary. However, changing your plastic habits can seem like a lot of effort for no obvious gain! So let’s keep it simple! Firstly, buy yourself and your family really nice easy-to-wash re-usable water bottles, and start carrying them with you everywhere. This will help you keep hydrated all the time! Get into the habit of bringing any type of bag with you when you go shopping. And, perhaps most importantly, wrap your childrens’ sandwiches in paper instead of plastic. Teaching children about using degradable materials might just save the planet!
Don’t Use Technology In Bed
This is a personal fight of my own. I am certain that I sleep better (and faster) if I have been reading a book in bed instead of having a screen centimeters from my face. Research agrees with my intuition; some studies link lack of quality sleep to use of technology minutes before attempting to sleep, and others show links to stress!
Eat Less Meat
Please don’t stop reading! At risk of being very unpopular, I am going to suggest a small reduction of the amount of meat that you eat. Without considering any moral reasons, there are two great arguments for consuming less meat; the environment, and your health. The meat industry produces huge quantities of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. In many countries, such as Argentina, there is ongoing deforestation to produce soy, of which the vast majority is used as animal feed. From a health perspective, if your diet relies heavily on meat then you are more likely to have health problems that I won’t list here. So, eat a bit less.
Leave Work at Work
Stress is not just a temporary annoyance. It can take years off of your life. Find a way to reduce your stress, and don’t allow yourself to be thinking about work when you don’t want to. Before leaving work, try writing a list of everything that you have to do the next day. Maybe those tasks will stay sitting on your desk instead of following you home.
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Getting more exercise is a popular New Year’s Resolution. But what about exercising your English? No matter what your level is, the best way to improve your language skills is by practising every day. There are many easy ways to surround yourself with English, so pick one or two, and make them a New Year’s Resolution.
Make a 2018 Wish List
Take a piece of paper, and spend fifteen minutes writing a ‘wish list’ for the year to come. Maybe you can do this tonight before bed. What do you want to do this year? Perhaps writing down some aspirations will help them to become reality.
Are you making any New Year’s Resolutions? Let us know in the comments section.
From the En Inglés team, Happy New Year and have a fantastic 2018!
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