TEN Ways to Make 2018 Your Best Year Yet

Hi friends! We are ankle deep in 2018 and I plan to share plenty of wellness posts in my internet corner this year. Today I want to share with you TEN steps to make 2018 your best year yet! In addition, I am sharing an awesome, simple product I have added to my Amazon Prime subscription orders! I am detail oriented and I am sure that you are as well. Therefore, let’s take a step back and look at the broad goals for our future. Read on to see my top 10 tips to make 2018 your best year yet!

1. 1. Stay present. On the Meyers Briggs scale, I am an “INTJ” which indicates that I am primarily Introspective and iNtuitive. As a result, I am always forecasting future scenarios in my head and analyzing old experiences to see how I could have avoided, improved, or perfected my response and interaction in the situation. I am constantly thinking and time passes quickly when thoughts are racing through your mind. This year I invite you to join me in eliminating the thought clutter to simply be and experience the now with your heart, rather than regretting your past and anxiously planning your future. I want to improve my daily happiness by enjoying the journey rather than spending the bulk of my time anxiously awaiting my result.
   2. Travel. Coinciding with #1, I invite you to travel. Travel is so exciting because your mind is in a new, unfamiliar place. Through human instinct, we analyze our surroundings to subconsciously note the closest exit, the people and competition around us, and the best way to survive a new, unfamiliar place. Our “fight or flight” mode kicks in, increasing adrenaline and observation. Since we are a civilized society living in the 21^st century, we do not necessarily need be so observant, but this mental state helps us stay in the present, noting smells, feels, sights, and sounds. Thus, traveling is so fun and helps clear your mind of the chatter. We have plenty of time to save money in 2018 for a new trip, so go make a list of places you want to see, pick your top 3, and start planning the logistics of making it happen.
   3. Grace. Since our society is so developed, we have children slamming baseballs at age 3. We have math prodigies of age 8 and 9 that understand math far more complicated than the 3 vector calculus I maxed at in college. My point is that someone, eventually, will always be better than you at whatever you are studying or training toward. On the other hand, you will always be better off than someone else. If you fall off the New Years resolution wagon, don’t give up and wait until next year. Allow yourself grace and know that this is God or the Universes way of telling you to take a break. Set a date to get back on track, allow yourself the break, and come back stronger than you left. Let’s be reel… If we all just gave up and started back the following year, none of us would ever get anywhere with our goals!
   4. Get outside. This may be an opinion-based point, but even with my extreme level of allergies, I LOVE being outdoors. NOTHING clears my mind like a couple mile run, walk, or a light hike. There is something therapeutic about just moving your body through nature. Perhaps exploring the outdoors comes back to that staying in the present mode I described in #2.
   5. Expand your horizons. I naively thought that life after college would be utterly boring and that my years of exploration and becoming good at something had passed. 6 years later I am a moderate fly fisherlady, a yoga instructor, and I just began taking Brazilian jui jitsu and kickboxing. I also picked up scuba diving and plan to get my certification in the next couple years. I fathomed none of that. Imagine what the next 10 years will hold for me, and better yet, what they could hold for YOU.
   6. Get coffee. Sadly, I have a list of people on an index card in my planner of people who have shown interest in getting to know me through coffee. Being the introvert I can be, I tend to let these opportunities stay out of grasp. However, I created the index card this year to make a note to meet up with these souls. If only one friendship blossoms from the 7-8 names on the list then that is one more flower in your life. Connection is so underrated in our society but I believe this is the reason we are here.
   7. Change your perception. I have many beginners in my yoga classes.  I like to briefly explain that yoga is about improving your reactions to tough scenarios. In my highly simplified description, if you can learn to breathe through and find appreciation for the difficult poses and the times you want to get out of a difficult posture. Also, trying again when you fall out. The idea is that if you can learn to change our outlook on your mat that it will eventually carry over to difficult situations in life from trauma, a bad day, or even road rage. Next time you are annoyed or feeling negatively, name 5 things to yourself (or as many as you need) for which you are grateful. Suddenly that person flicking you off on the highway is a lot less significant.
   8. Stick to basics. Each time I clean out my closet I am shocked by the amount of trendy items I have purchased and are no longer interested in wearing. This year I invite you to invest in fewer items that can be closet staples. Clean out your closet and only keep the items you love. Make a list of true staples you could add and invest in them when you decide to spend the money.

   

2. Take more risks. You have to risk it for the biscuit! If you don’t go out on the limb, you will not get the fruit. If you’ve been holding back, let this year be the year you take that huge risk. You got to where you are now through your grit and perseverance, so worst case scenario is you have to work a little to get back to this point. Best case scenario: this is your best, most successful year yet. All because you took that jump.
3. Drink more water. Creating small habits of health and self-care can add up over time. One thing that even the healthiest of people could improve on is fluid intake. Drinking water curbs your appetite, plumps and thickens skin, helps flush out cheat day woes, maintains hydration, and is a simple and easy task that once mastered, can help you build discipline in regards to your more ambitious goals. It can help you last longer in workouts. I don’t think there has ever been a point in time where I was drinking enough water. My goal this year is to avoid very acidic pH waters that you find in most grocery stores and to drink have my weight in water every day (62 ounces). Opposite the pH scale of acidic is alkaline (also known as basic, but I will spare you of my Chemistry degree geekiness!) Alkaline water has a high pH and helps to balance our body and bloodstream that is often higher than the “neutral” pH of 7. Since we primarily consume acidic foods, alkaline water is extremely beneficial, quenching, and natural for our bodies to absorb. My favorite is TEN spring water because it is infused with enough minerals and electrolytes to hold a 10 pH for at least 2 years in its BPA-free bottle. The water is sourced from pure springs deep in the earth with naturally filtering cave walls of granite and quartz. The water is pulled through a closed system directly to their bottling facility. Check out their Instagram to learn more information HERE. You can find TEN Water at your nearest Publix or any other retailer HERE. In addition, you can order it on Amazon Prime! It is one of the best-tasting and smoothest bottled water I have tried. There is no hard water or metallic tastes and you can distinguish a smoother taste characteristic of the high alkalinity.

WATER. YOGA TOP (‘Sage’). YOGA BOTTOMS (‘Sage’). TENNIS SHOES. LIPPIE (‘Amorous’).

Comment below if you have ever tried TEN or another Alkaline water and what you thought of it. I hope you can apply some of these ideas to your life to make this your BEST YEAR YET. Don’t take life too seriously and remember to give yourself grace when everything is not going your way. Happy 2018 and beyond!

With Joy,

Audrey Duncan