3 Easy New Year’s Resolutions for Moms in 2022

Three 2022 New Years Resolutions for Mom who want a better year for themselves and their families

New Year’s resolutions are hard. It means changing your habits and routines. Make it a little easier by making changes in incremental steps to start. This allows your mind to focus on an attainable goal. You as moms are holding your family together and managing schedules. Your whole family needs you to be healthy and have emotional and physical energy for them. There are three areas that most moms need help with that are explained below.  

Before delving into those, let’s first consider ways to set yourself up for success by:

·      Making attainable goals. Instead of making monumental changes make smaller attainable goals. Once you’ve decided on them, write them down leaving space in between each one to make some notes. 

·      Anticipate the obstacles in advance. You are going to encounter struggles to the goals you’ve written down. Choosing in advance, how you are going to respond to the situations you know will come up. For example, you’ve decided to start walking three times a week to get more exercise. What is going to keep you from walking? Maybe it is frigid temperatures and 3 feet of snow on the ground. Knowing that’s a possibility, decide in advance what you are going to do in inclement weather. Make a note under that goal that you are going to do online yoga on those days or walk up and down the stairs ten times.  Deciding in Advance your responses to obstacles will be an encouragement to keep going even with obstacles.

·      Adjust your schedule appropriately. If you are going to walk, you must create space in your schedule to do it. Figure out a time that works best and a backup time and record them with your goals.

·      Get accountability. Asking someone to either do it with you or checkup daily or weekly on your progress will make it less likely that you’ll skip your commitments.

·      Change your thinking. Determining to change old habits starts in the mind. Envision how you’ll feel about yourself a month or two down the road, when you’ve toned up and you feel better.

·      Set evaluation dates.  For me, it’s hard to have a never ending goal. Even a whole month is a long time. I can do it a week at a time. Set a finish date to each goal. Try to recommit each week until you reach your ending date. Then you can celebrate a little and continue with the positive life change you’ve worked toward.

Now it’s time to choose your New Year’s Resolutions. Here are three areas most of us need help with. Choose ones that fit your needs and desires. Write down specific, doable, and attainable goals.

1.     Get Healthy. 

a.     Eating well. Think about what you are trying to accomplish. Maybe is about losing a few pounds. Do you want to decrease the amount of food you eat? Do you want to drink less? Maybe you want to eat healthier foods or a combination. 

b.     Exercise. How do you want to get exercise? Go to the gym? Take up jogging? Engage in online exercise classes at home? There are so many options. Choose one that right for you.

2.     Use Your Personal time to really get Rejuvenated. Moms have very little time to themselves. Whether you are a stay-at-home mom or a working mom. Many times even going to the bathroom isn’t a quiet moment. So, moms go to their phones to snatch a few minutes break. In those private moments, we are hoping to get rejuvenated, so when we return to interactions with our family, we are filled back up and are ready to reengage. Pay special attention to what activities make you feel depleted and what activities energize you. You’ll probably notice that if you get outside and move for even 10 minutes, you’ll feel better. If you choose to spend your time being grateful to the Lord or focusing on worship music, you’ll feel better too. Any combination of these will boost your spirits and give you a calm peace to come back into your family with more energy and patience.

The activity that most of us automatically gravitate to when we have a few minutes is social media. After scrolling, are you more energized? Are you more patient and kinder? Studies have shown that this kind of engagement drains you rather than gives you a boost. Choose a resolution to use your personal time to get rejuvenated by:

a.     Setting boundaries for yourself on social media.

b.     Spend that time getting outside and breathing fresh air or worshipping the Lord. 

3.     Get to Know Jesus Better Most busy moms don’t have time for a traditional hour-long quiet times, but you can snatch the little available moments and connect with the Lord throughout your day.

a.     Be intentional about Gratitude. When your child goes to sleep quickly, say a silent quick prayer, (I call Rocket Prayers) saying, “Thank you Lord that Candice went to sleep so quickly.” When your child ate a healthy lunch after being sick, send up a rocket prayer, “Thank you that Sam ate a good lunch today.” Any little positive event, you can turn into a silent prayer expressing gratitude to the Lord.

b.     One minute pause. In the chaos of your day stop and pause for one minute to focus on the Lord. You can download the One Minute Pause app on your phone and set reminders to release your stress and anxiety to Him.

c.     Listen to worship music. So your mind stays focused on the Lord. Take K-Love’s 30 day challenge and only listen to Christian music for the next month. Play it in your home, put a Christian Station on in your car. Wherever you listen. At the end of the month, see how focusing on the Lord has changed your moods, your perspectives and maybe even your life.

You can do this! You can become healthier, get rejuvenated, and develop a deeper relationship with the Lord. Taking incremental steps and adding quick reminders on your phone to pause for a few seconds throughout your day, can make positive changes in your life and the lives of your family.