Happy New Year 2015!

New Year, New You?

You might be one of the many people who have decided “This is a new year, a fresh start. I’m going to make some serious changes!” You might have goals to lose weight, exercise more, quit smoking, learn a new skill, stress less or spend more time with your loved ones. Whatever your goal might be, make sure it’s something you want. Make sure you’re not doing it because your partner has been nagging you for ages. If you don’t want to make that your goal, then you won’t want to put the work in to accomplish it.

Maybe you’ve been putting off goal setting because you think it’s too hard or too expensive (I know I have!). Look on the internet or talk to friends who have done what you want to do. Want to learn how to knit? Go to the library and borrow some knitting books or visit YouTube to find a how-to video. Ask a friend if they know how to knit. Maybe you could teach them something in exchange for their skill and know-how.

Maybe you’re like me and the thought of dropping big money on taking a fitness class makes you turn in the other direction. See if you can do it with someone else (I chose my brother) and do the math. When I say do the math I mean figure out how much each class would cost you. For example, I want to take a martial arts class, but signing up would cost $126 up front. That to me is a lot of money, but when I divided the amount of money by the amount of classes the amount came to $6.33 per class. Each class was 2 hours long, so I thought it was a great deal! However, this is only money well spent if I actually go to the class. I think we have all heard of a story or two where someone buys a treadmill or gym membership and never uses it. That, my friend, is money that should have been put towards buying healthy groceries.

Whatever your goal is, I’m sure it involves literacy. Don’t believe me? Ok, well, do you want to learn how to eat healthy? You’ll need to read nutrition labels and measure recipes. Action Read can help with that. Want to learn how to meditate and find inner peace? Reading some spiritual or self-help books should help you on your path to zen. Come to Action Read and ask for the book called “Living with Stress” to help you get started. Want to spend more time with your young children? Reading bedtime stories or helping with their homework is a good way to start. Don’t know how to read or do math? If you come to Action Read and learn, you’ll learn also be setting a good example for your children.

Are there any New Year’s resolutions that make every year? Do you have trouble reaching your goals? Tell us about your New Year’s resolutions in the comment section below.

Whatever you do, from all of us at Action Read, we wish you a happy and healthy 2015!