4 Lifestyle Enhancements for 2021 — Anyone Can Do This, Including You
It’s a new year, the same you. Maybe unless you already got the vaccine, in which case, good on you for being a model citizen in times of vapid conspiracies. But while we all patiently wait our turn in line and hope for some new normalcy, we all can also take this time of change with ingenuity and dedication to some effect. If this is your year of fitness, I hope you kill it. If this is your year of finance, I hope you earn it. If this is your year of improvement, I know you and all of us can do it. Changing our lifestyle though can be a mysteriously difficult thing. Our brains are literally wired to fight against it. But, with change comes transformation. No matter how small the change for one day, a year’s worth will compound its results. The following four bullets are mini guideline tips that I’ve began incorporating to my everyday life, changes that I believe anyone can reciprocate into their lifestyle. Even if you pursue only one or two out of the four, I wish the best in them conditioning your mind and body to its pinnacle.
Breakfast — The Most Important Meal of the Day, Right?
When it comes to breakfast, it’s crazy to me how conflictive and divisive one meal time can be to people. I’ve seen it all at this point on the breakfast spectrum, y’all. One person might say that they never eat and ignore breakfasts entirely, another may consider a “meal” as a Starbucks / Dutch Bros coffee to-go, and then yet another may actually eat a decent portion meal that will carry them for their morning. I can’t say I have not not been in all three of those breakfast mentalities at one point or another (those 8am college classes go crazy). Regardless of what your legitimate consumption choices go with breakfast, it is a vital nourishment for everyone. And I don’t mean vital in the sense of if you do skip it you’re considered unhealthy, but more so vital in that an adequate breakfast can be the influential determinant of how your entire day goes. If you’re eating a quick bagel with a Red Bull for an energy boost, I think you can, stop, look at yourself in the mirror before leaving the door, and say “hmm, maybe this isn’t the best idea, dude.” Or if you’re constantly drizzling your maple syrup and sprinkling sugar onto your blueberry-filled pancakes, perhaps there could be some self-reflection on how much is a little too much.
Anyways, I’m not saying don’t treat yourself every once in a while. Some of you need just that. My point that I’m leading to is this: make one switch in your breakfast routine. Self-evaluate your current weekly morning choices, and change something up. If you’re a fan of cereal as much as I am, you know a good bowl can do wonders as a midnight snack. But eating cereal every day for breakfast isn’t the wisest of decisions. Switch it out and try some oatmeal flavors. Trust me, going from Cocoa Puffs to Brown Sugar Maple wasn’t my favorite thing to do either. But then I tried Apple Cinnamon with banana pieces cut on top, and alright, now we can talk some business. In another instance you could switch your energy drinks for a healthier drink substitute, or something of lesser caffeine amount to help your heart breathe. Or go from French toast pieces to protein-based pancakes. Simply pick one reoccurring food / drink choice in your life, and flip it to a better direction. Little changes such as this will gradually improve your morning, your day, your attitude, your everything. No more waking up and drinking a black coffee. Please, love yourself. Eat something with it.
Learning After School
I personally think learning and gaining knowledge is top notch. The crème de la crème of human skills. The ways in which education is stressed onto society and the systems established for how to judge (grade) a person’s intellect are surely a combining force that now heavily discourages active learning to people. Once a person graduates from school, whichever level of institution, many don’t engage in actively stimulating their minds with something of creative / personal pursuit. I’m not scrutinizing anyone here, especially since I would be lying if I didn’t say I had periods of time where all I did was do work and do work and work, and no fun. Anyways, my point here is that learning something every day should be treated as a time of opportunity and brain growth. Not memorizing material to pass an exam / class. Genuine, interested learning. Dedicate 30 minutes to an hour every day for intellectual stimulation to yourself. Discover something productive that gravitationally just draws you in. Whether that’s finally getting to that book (or probably books), becoming a plant mom, engrossing in finance literacy like stocks and cryptocurrencies, doing meditation, or even downloading an app that builds your learning experience. I personally enjoy two apps for everyday use, Elevate and DuoLingo. Elevate is a neat and slick app to keep your mind sharp and in tune with quick game challenges. DuoLingo is the more infamous language learning app that truly does help, day by day. But sticking with it, that’s the hard part. If you miss a day, maybe you could double down another, if it’s to your motivational liking. In general, merely taking 30 minutes to an hour to yourself for passionate learning will keep and strengthen your mind. There’s so much out there to discover now, there are next to no excuses for finding something of interest to you.
CLEAN YOUR ROOM
Cleaning is frankly a love it or hate it thing. Maybe you switch from one to the other in moments / scenarios, but for the most part, either you enjoy it, or abhor it. Whichever side you’re on though, the aftereffects of cleaning is a desirable scene to look at. The dishes are done and back in their cabinet, the vinyl / carpet isn’t sticky, the tables don’t have crumbs from over two weeks ago, whatever the cleaning duties are, we all prefer sanitation over sloppiness. With that said, even if you’re not the cleanliest of folks, here’s one giant suggestion that will do you wonders: clean one area in your living space that you don’t touch often. I’m not talking about making your bed or putting your clothes on hangers. If that’s something of selfdom frequency in your life, there’s other things to fix first. I mean something / some place that you don’t cleanse frequently. This includes but is not limited to your fridge (please, be honest with yourself on how the inside looks), an entertainment center or TV, a basement or attic, the insides of your kitchen drawers, the outside of your home, the ceiling fans, your collection of items, etc. Wherever you live, I can almost guarantee there’s a section in your home that you always think about disinfecting, and it always ends up retracting to the back of your head for later. Just once a week: do it. Clean an area that once the mission is complete you can look at it with a content, satisfied smile.
Do People Actually Enjoy Stretching?
Alright I’m gonna say it: stretching sucks. I’m not sorry. But I don’t mean it’s not actually a really great thing for me and everyone else alive, I just can’t ever remember to do it. When I go workout, I do the bare minimums of bare minimums when stretching a muscle group before viciously attacking the weights. Still though, stretching is imperative, and even I know better than to ignore it. You don’t have to be a fitness aficionado to any degree when it comes to stretching. It should be the bare minimum for everyday exercising. The trick is to find your niche method for how to enjoy stretching. I found my niche ways to be by doing random acts of stretching after watching / playing something, or in the morning with calming ambient, chillwave music while the breeze draws in. I’ll either get up after watching a TV show and do some arm circles, half jacks, chest expansions and leg pulls, or I’ll lay down on my carpet and perform some closed-eye, tranquil music ab exercises. This has been working for me, and it might for you. But if it doesn’t, then find a different method that will! Maybe you’d enjoy stretching while cooking, before you knock out for the night, or dedicating a 15-minute break in your work afternoon. Everyone is different, but stretching is a universal form of exercise that will keep your body nimble and robust.
