7 Wellness Experts Share Their New Year’s Resolutions
As another year turns over, ‘tis the season for goal-setting and resolution-making. After all, January offers an annual fresh start to reset, break old habits, and create new ones to “live your best life” in the new year — at least, in theory. The trouble with New Year’s resolutions? They’re often tough to keep up with, and by the time February rolls around, resolutions are as long-gone as holiday treats and festive decorations.
Wellness experts, however, have it down. Rather than focusing on dropping pounds or hitting the gym every day, their resolutions are more like intentions. They’re focused not just on physical health, but on overall wellbeing — mind, body, and spirit.
Need some inspiration for your own 2020 goals? Here, seven top wellness experts share their New Year’s resolutions this year.
“My number one goal is always to help inspire and empower other women, and the best way to do that is to continue to grow and learn. [This year], my main New Year’s goal is to increase my knowledge and expertise in nutrition. As a certified personal trainer and someone who completely changed [her] own lifestyle (and lost 45lbs), I am super passionate about nutrition. While I have done extensive research on my own through the years, this year I’m ready to fully dive — I just enrolled in courses to receive my fitness nutrition specialist certification and have set up some small micro-goals for myself each week to keep me on track to accomplish my goal by March!”
— Katie Dunlop, creator of Love Sweat Fitness
“My New Year’s resolution is to make myself of service wherever I can. Service is essential for our wellbeing: helping others takes you out of the rut of perfectionism and improves your wellbeing through real-life connection.
I’ve worked with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation for several years, [and] I hope to schedule school visits to lead yoga for the kids and help however I can this year. There is another amazing program, Box Kids, that I’ve worked with for a while. I plan to volunteer more for [them] and specifically offer free teacher trainings for faculty and community members — healthy and connected community leaders are great for everyone.”
— Tara Stiles, founder of Strala Yoga
“My New Year’s goal for 2020 is to do three things every month that that stimulate my brain, are outside of my comfort zone, and that elevate my experience on this planet in some way. I will research things that I’ve always been curious about but [have been] nervous to try or get recommendations from friends — and Google will be my best friend on this mission!
I think it’s important for us always to challenge ourselves. [In the past], many [of my] New Year’s goals have been to deepen my spirituality or to achieve some fitness goal that I set for myself. I feel pretty great in those realms lately, but I feel my mind could use more ‘outside my comfort zone’ type of stimulation this year!”
— Rebecca Kordecki, Breathwork Trainer and Fitness Expert
“My main 2020 wellness goal is consistency: I am looking to be consistent with my meditation, because I am calmer and more creative when I do it. I am looking to be consistent with my exercise and quiet the voices and excuses that keep me from moving daily. I am looking to be consistent with writing, posting on my blog weekly to inspire and help others. I am looking to be even more consistent with my essential oil rituals, so I can see the benefits of their actions in so many different ways. I am looking to be consistent in my gratitude and generosity so I can appreciate what I have and give to those in need. Consistency is essential to creating daily practices that not only support us in the moment, but in the long term.”
— Nancy Alder, dōTERRA Leader and Yoga Teacher
5. Get a business idea off the ground.
“My main 2020 New Year’s resolution is to work on a tangible wellness product for my audience. This is important to me because I believe my readers should have something they can access from me offline, outside of my workshops, that will help guide them throughout their wellness journey.”
— Chelsea Williams, MPH, Wellness Blogger and Certified Communicator in Public Health
“I recently read a great book called Atomic Habits by James Clear about how tiny changes can create remarkable results. Instead of reading the book and then not implementing any of it (which happens so often with self-help books!), my main goal in 2020 is to start taking action on the advice and methods laid out in that book so I can improve in a few key areas of my life, such as:
Better time management so I don’t feel so uncomfortably busy and overwhelmed, can practice more yoga, and devote myself to the causes I care about.
Break my smart phone addiction so I can enjoy the life right in front of me.
Become a better money manager of my personal finances individually and as a couple.”
— Amy Ippoliti, Yoga Teacher, Author, and Activist
“I like to set New Year’s intentions versus resolutions, and my intention is to be more FIERCE! I created an acronym for FIERCE in my book Let Your Fears Make You Fierce. [They are:]
Fit: I will practice daily rituals for mental, spiritual, and physical wellness.
Intentional: I will be intentional with how I express myself in the world.
Engaged: I will engage in conversations that make me feel uncomfortable because they are uncovering deep-seated fears within myself and humanity.
Resourceful: I will use the resources provided to me to educate myself and my community.
Conscious: I will live in alignment with love and be conscious of how my life impacts the world around me.
Empowered: I will use my power and platform to promote positive change in the world.
You can create your own affirmations to go with each key word in F.I.E.R.C.E.—Let your soul express itself as you free write your intentions for the new year.”
— Koya Webb, Holistic Health Coach and Author of Let Your Fears Make You Fierce
Featured Photo: Courtesy of Katie Dunlop / Chelsea Williams / Koya Webb
Homepage Photo: Courtesy of Koya Webb