My Top 5 New Year’s Resolutions for 2021

Happy Monday everyone! There’s nothing I love more than setting new goals and habits for the New Year. It’s the time to reflect on the previous year, and look ahead to what you want to change this year. Of course new habits and goals can be set anytime of year, but doing it at the beginning of the New Year makes it more aesthetically pleasing, right?

When I sat on January 1^st and wrote down my goals for the year, 10-15 wound up on my page. Of course it’s not realistic to sit and think that starting in January I’m going to do 15 things differently, but I like writing them down to have some goals that I could start at any time during the year. Instead of writing them all out here and making this blog post ridiculously long, I chose my top 5 goals for 2021 to share with you today!

#1 Read 18 Books

Last year, I made it one of my goals to read 17 books in 2020. With 45 minutes to spare on New Year’s Eve, I made my goal! I didn’t want to make a drastic book count jump this year, so I thought moving the number up by 1 would be more practical and doable. What really helped me last year was breaking up the books I wanted to read into 4 sections of 4 or 5 books. I’d give myself 3 months to finish reading 1 section of those 4 or 5 books, and this system was really effective in keeping me on track throughout the year. Soon on the blog, I’ll be doing my first reading list of the year in case you’re interested about how I do that!

#2 Focus on My Gut Health

One of the books that I read in the fall was The Mind-Gut Connection by Emeran Mayer, MD. If you haven’t heard of this book before, I mentioned it in my reading list from September, and it’s basically about how your gut health influences your overall well being, and how the mind and the gut are closely connected. This was a great book that made me start rethinking everything in regards to my health, specifically my gut health. Was I experiencing discomfort and bloating in the last year because of my gut health, and not because of consuming things containing gluten and dairy? While I do think eliminating most of my gluten and dairy intake has helped a lot, this book made me want to incorporate more probiotics into my diet to support a healthy microbiota. I’ve always wanted to try the Mediterranean Diet, and The Mind-Gut Connection supported that diet as a good option for your gut health, and that’s also one of my many goals this year to try.  

#3 Save, Travel, and Have More Experiences

I’ve been inspired to travel for the longest time, yet I haven’t been able to go anywhere new because you know, a pandemic has been going on and everyone has had to stay at home. Travelling has been something I’ve dreamed about ever since I was in high school, and this year I want to start making that more of a reality. I want to create more experiences and travel to new places. So first I have to save, but next I want to take the little trips I’ve had planned in my mind for forever!

#4 Show Myself Grace

One of the revelations I had last year is how hard I am on myself. Even if I do something 99% right, I critique that 1% that I did wrong. By doing this, I undermine all of my accomplishments. Instead of being proud of something I did, I think of what I could’ve done better, and don’t make a big deal out of it. I did a whole post about how I’m an Enneagram Type 1, and that contributes to this mindset a lot. I’m a perfectionist and always want to do everything right. I hold myself to an impossible standard, yet I still don’t think that what I do is good enough. Like this blog for instance. I haven’t told many people about it because I don’t think it’s worthy or good enough to be talked about. So in 2021, I want to show myself more grace. To talk to myself better and not get in my own way. I’ve realized that this has become a bad habit of mine, and I want to get better. I’m worthy and I’m good enough, and if you need to hear it right now, so are you!!

#5 Step Up My Golf Game

And lastly, on a lighter note, one thing I want to do more of in 2021 is golf. Golfing was one of the things I did a lot of when we were stuck at home. We have a pretty big front yard, and it was a great way to pass the time, hitting some golf balls with a 9 iron or pitching wedge. Because it’s been colder outside, I haven’t been able to go out much, so I miss playing it a lot. I only got to go to the golf course a couple of times in 2020, and I really want to make more visits this year!

And that wraps up my top 5 resolutions/goals for the New Year! You got some active goals, mental goals, travel goals, and health goals. I think that about covers it! I really hope to accomplish these goals this year. They seem pretty standard, but I’m excited to work on them throughout 2021. Thanks for stopping by and reading this little post of mine. I hope you smash out your New Year’s goals and have an amazing week!!