5 Ways to make your New Year’s Resolutions count this year
New year, new me!! That’s right team… Christmas is just around the corner, and you know what happens next?
2020.
A New Year is an excuse for new dreams, new goals, new plans, and new ideas. Even if you’re not one for setting New Year’s resolutions, you can’t deny the great feeling of hitting the reset button and starting afresh. A new year is also a time for reflection, and for the planet, this year was a tough one.
In October, a report was released concluding that we have 12 years to limit ‘climate change catastrophe’. After that, coming back to a thriving environment and green world, will be extremely hard; near impossible.
We can have new goals and new resolutions, but we cannot have a new planet. It’s our only one.
Avoid the cliché lose weight and visit my grandma more often New Year’s resolutions this year (though definitely visit her, she’ll love you for it). Use this ‘new beginning’ to make positive change, not just in your own life, but change for the planet and people around you.
5 ways to make your New Year’s Resolutions count this year
1. Reflect on Your Consumption
There’s no point making New Year’s resolutions if you don’t know where you’re currently at. It’s important to reflect on the year that has been, before moving on.
What did you learn? What has changed? How do you feel?
Once you know where you are, you’ll feel encouraged and ready for what’s next. Well, as ready as you can be!
2. Change your Consumption Habits
It’s clear we need to change the way we consume, reduce our plastic consumption, and diminish our footprint on the planet. But how?
Far too often we make vague goals and plans in December, get excited and enthused in January, but by March we’ve forgotten about them or they’ve become too big for us to tackle. It’s the classic gym membership without a plan scenario: you’ll never actually go if you don't map out a routine.
Thinking you’ll ‘reduce your plastic’ in 2020 isn’t refined enough. Your goals and resolutions need to be specific, intentional, and strategic. How will you reduce your plastic? What will it look like when that goal is achieved?
We’d recommend working through our ‘Choices Checklist’ for tangible tips on waste reduction. Choosing one or two steps from the list to focus on each month is totally doable! Once you’ve mastered those two steps, move onto the next. By the end of the year, you’ll be a true waste-free guru.
Shop durable and sustainable single-use plastic alternatives here.
3. Adjust your mindset: Compassion vs. Convenience
It is clear from the way we all answer "busy" to the question "how are you?", our society needs a mindset adjustment if we’re going to kick planet pollution in the butt. Our quick (and stressful) lives mean we don't have time to reassess our plastic coated habits or think before we grab a plastic to-go coffee cup.
Slow living comes hand in hand with plastic reduction and generally ‘living lighter’. Plus, we can’t save the planet without looking after ourselves too.
Consider your entire wellbeing when crafting 2020’s goals and resolutions. Our mind, soul, and body are interconnected; one will not change without the other. Set regular self-care sessions, physical exercise, and mindfulness practices as goals for the New Year.
4. Read, watch, and absorb: Educate your inner eco warrior
Picture it now: you’re lying on the beach in the glorious sunshine, the waves are crashing peacefully close by, kids are laughing, seagulls are hovering, and you’re deep in a book preparing you for how to change the freaking world. Bliss.
Use the summer holidays as a time to absorb information that propels you into the New Year. Watch our 5 must see docos, start following our favourite New Zealand eco bloggers, and get clued up on The Ultimate Waste Guide. Knowledge is power.
5. Vibe With Your Tribe: Share your eco tips with friends!
Changing your own habits is one thing, but spreading the word will double, triple, or super-quadruple your positive change! Get your mates on board with 2020 waste-free goals too, lead the change in your office, and share your new planet-saving aspirations online. You never know who you’ll impact and how far it will spread.
Whether New Year’s resolutions are your ‘thing’ or not, join us in making 2020 the year we bust plastic pollution and start treating our world with the respect it deserves. Don’t let another year slip by without reflecting, strategising, adjusting, and moving forward with helpful resources and a strong tribe to join you.
There is power in goal setting, and there is power in individual action.
Let’s make 2020 the year we saved the planet.
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- Tags: Sustainable Holidays
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