20 things you should stop doing and begin doing in 2017 along with me, to live a more fresh, fit, and healthy life!

2016: Thanks for the lessons. 2017: let’s do this.

As you may remember from last year’s “new year’s post”, I don’t really set “resolutions”. You can see why by reading the post here. But this year, I figured instead of doing a “new years resolutions post” like a lot of bloggers will be doing for 2017 , I’d write a post on things I’ve decided I want to STOP doing (& begin doing), in 2017 .  So without wasting any more time…here we go!

Things to STOP in 2017:

• Buying Junk

  • Begin: Only buy things you know you’ll use in 2017
  • We ALL have way too much stuff lying around. Stuff we swore we would use at the time of buying…or maybe it was just on sale so “we had to”, right? I don’t know about you, but I’m STUF-ED OUT.  Let’s commit to stop buying so much junk, and invest our money in fewer, nicer things, that we will use and keep for a long time. Or, invest it in memories instead, such as a cool trip or a weekend out with friends.

• Looking Down

  • Less Phone, More People in 2017.
  • Begin: Looking up. Noticing the small moments, the little beauty around you.
  • Don’t allow yourself to thirst after someone else’s picture-perfect social media life. Because comparing their highlights to your behind-the-scenes, is not a fair comparison. No one has a perfect life, or body. And if it seems like it from their social media, remember, it’s edited and artificial. (If you can’t tell, I have a love-hate relationship with social media)

• Putting Your Own Health on the Back-burner

  • Begin: Getting more Sleep in 2017.
  • You MUST make time for your own health. Whether that be getting more sleep, making nutrient-dense foods a greater part of your overall diet, making time to exercise, or simply, just to BREATHE. Making your health a priority is  a necessity this new year!
  • Look at these tips here on overing insomnia and why sleep is important, if you’re struggling!

• Fearing Failure

  • Begin: Failing More Often in 2017.
  • Failure is one of the surest paths to success. Think about any person out there that you see as a very successful person. They didn’t get to that place over night. They went through a lot of “valleys” in their roller coaster of life before ever experiencing those thrilling mountain peaks. If you aren’t failing, that most likely means you’re staying in the comfort zone, aka, the safe zone. Which means that you aren’t moving anywhere at all. And that is surely never going to get you anywhere GREAT.

• Over-scheduling Yourself

  • Begin: Freeing up some time. Learn to say NO in 2017.
  • Making yourself a priority, is not selfish, it is NEEDED. Saying no is not a sin. Saying no is actually one of the most freeing, healthy things you can learn how to do. For the longest time I overcommited and couldn’t say no. How did that leave me? Feeling depleted and exhausted and burnt out…and it prevented me from fully investing where I truly wanted to be invested in. I’m still not perfect about this, but let me tell you, I’m much better and more able to say the words “NO”, then I used to!

• Putting Everyone’s Happiness Before Yours

  • Begin: making yourself a priority in 2017. I can’t reiterate it enough!
  • Going along with the points above in making your health a priority and learning to say no, making your happiness a priority is so very needed. This doesn’t mean to be mean or to be selfish. This simply means that YOU are a person of value as well as everyone else, and deserve only the best. Treat yourself like you treat your best friends. Sometimes, you have to make decisions that are best for YOU, even if it makes others disappointed or unhappy. I used to FEAR disappointing others (which is why I also used to never say no), and would do things and schedule my day to make OTHERS happy, but not myself. Learn that you deserve to be happy too, and find the healthy balance of honoring your own happiness along with others.

• Running Away from Problems

  • Begin: Facing your problems head on in 2017.
  • Confrontation, something most people hate, but is so very needed in a #freshfitnhealthy life. Confront your problems, your weakness, your not-so-good situations. Confront them all head on, so that  you can fix them and become BETTER. If you just sweep problems in your own life and in your relationships under the rug, and don’t confront them, it will only go to destroying you later down the road. I have learned the importance of being transparent both in my own weaknesses/struggles, and in my relationships with others A LOT in the past 5 months…and it has only grown me and created many deep and strong relationships.

• Chasing People/Relying on Others for Happiness

  • Begin: Spending time with the RIGHT people in 2017.
  • Create your own happiness. Don’t chase guys. You are of such value, and if they don’t see that right away, there is no need for them in your life anyways. The right man will come that sees your value and your beauty, and pursues you without needing the chase.
  • And also don’t chase friends either. It’s a two way street. It requires effort on both sides. And if you see that person isn’t wanting to give effort to grow a friendship or continue strengthening an existing one, don’t waste your time either. It will come naturally and easy with the people that are meant to be in your life. Don’t chase people.

• Not Traveling

  • Begin: Traveling Somewhere, Anywhere, in 2017.
  • I am the WORST at this. As an extremely busy graduate student, (and have been a busy student for 6 years now), I always seem to come up with an excuse not to BOOK the trip. Plan a trip, with friends or for just yourself, and BOOK it. Just do it. The one thing money can’t buy is EXPERIENCES. I’ve always said I don’t need a lot of money in life, but any extra will certainly go to traveling!

• Thinking It’s Too Late

  • Begin: Believing you can change anything and create the life you want, at any point in your life. And begin doing so in 2017!
  • It’s never too late to create the life you want, or too late to begin the career you are truly passionate about, or too late to chase that big dream. It’s never too late. Start today.
  • Need help on the health side of things and want to make big changes in your health? I’d love to work with you! Email me @ contact@freshfitnhealthy.com

• Complaining

  • Begin: Focusing on what matters in 2017, instead of letting the small things damper your mood and happiness.
  • Things you take for granted every day, others are praying daily for. When you find yourself about to complain about a situation, stop and think of 10 things you are THANKFUL for. The surest way to combat discontentment is thanksgiving. Plus, complaining doesn’t fix anything, it only puts you in a terrible mood. And makes you an unpleasant person to be around!

• Being Passive and Living Mediocre

  • Begin: taking action to get out of a passive or mediocre lifestyle in 2017.
  • Passivity — it can destroy any passion you’ve been given, steal all  joy in your life, and make you forget who you even are. Just “watching the days pass” or “just getting by”, is NOT a solution or way you should be living. Are you truly unhappy right now? Feeling empty or like your days don’t have meaning? TAKE ACTION. Make changes — small ones, every day. And those small changes will eventually lead to a fulfilling, passionate, joyful life.
  • Mediocrity — there are WAY too many people settling for OK. An OK job. An OK relationship. An OK life. Why? Because OK is comfortable, OK pays the bills, OK lets you end work at 5 and go out to happy hour, and OK is safe. You know what OK is NOT? It’s not thrilling. It’s not meaningful. It’s not the reason you wake up early and go to bed late. Don’t settle. Don’t be another casualty of mediocrity.

• Negative Self Talk

  • Begin: Loving yourself in 2017. Every part of it.
  • It’s those imperfections that make you, YOU. Appreciate where you are now, even though you should definitely strive to be better every day. Because, who doesn’t have things to work on?? Don’t settle for where you are now, but also don’t forget how far you have already come, or remember to appreciate the person you are NOW. Any time you find yourself saying something negative about yourself, combat it with 5 positive attributes you like about yourself.

• Hating Imperfection

  • Begin: Accepting things that are less than perfect in 2017.
  • Life is not perfect. People are not perfect. And if your feed is portraying that things are perfect, it’s false. The greatest source of discontentment is the picture in our heads of how it’s suppose to be. Don’t picture a perfect world. Accept imperfection. Yes, it can be messy. But boy it’s beautiful too.

• Remaining in the Comfort Zone

  • Begin: Taking more chances in 2017.
  • Begin giving your dreams a chance. Take (calculated) risks you never would have. Believe you can do it and you are already halfway there. Know that you are capable of anything you put your mind to, and begin taking steps TODAY, to reach those lofty goals of yours. The sky is the limit.
  • Faith can take you amazing places. Faith: seeing the invisible, believing the impossible, and achieving the incredible.

• Telling Yourself You Aren’t Ready

  • Begin: Believing you ARE ready in 2017 to begin what you’ve always wanted to do.
  • You are ready, right now. If you wait till you feel ready, you’ll never move. Small steps forward, beginning now.

• Seeing Others as Competition

  • Begin: Competing against an earlier version of yourself in 2017.
  • Be inspired by others, motivated by others, and spurred on by others. But don’t let it become a competition. That will only lead to terrible outcomes like loss of relationships, low self esteem, and discontentment. Focus on being better than who you are right now. If you are better than you were yesterday, you are on the right track, and should be PROUD.

• Regretting

  • Begin: Forgiving yourself and forgiving others in 2017.
  • We all mess up. We are all human. But until you forgive others, you are only hurting yourself. And if you’re struggling to forgive yourself for something, I can relate. Sometimes we are toughest on ourselves. But it is SO necessary to release yourself so that you can move forward. We are ALREADY forgiven by the only One who matters. So do yourself a favor and forgive yourself. Don’t allow it to hold you back from who you are meant to become or the life you are meant to live!

• Allowing Toxicity in Your Life

  • Begin: Eliminating all toxic things/people in 2017.
  • Toxic situations, toxic people, toxic environments. Get rid of it all. You deserve much better than to be brought down by negativity or harmful things. Get rid of them all now — things and people. It will only destroy your life to be surrounded by it. I used to always feel this obligation to keep people in my life even when they were taking me down secretly. Don’t let that happen. Do a cleaning of all negativity in your life to start off 2017 healthy and prosperous!
  • People INPIRE you, or they DRAIN you. You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Pick them wisely.

• Looking Back

  • DO: Kiss 2016 Goodbye — it’s 2017 now! (well, soon!)

  • Thank 2016 for what it’s taught you, only looking back to see how far you’ve come this year. Other than that, no looking back. Don’t let the past define you. Don’t let 2016’s mistakes or mess ups, define how your 2017 will go.  2017 is YOUR year. YOUR year to make changes in your life, to accomplish amazing things, and to GET STUFF DONE.

What are YOU going to do in 2017?? I want to hear YOUR biggest goals and changes you plan to make!