Do you need to figure out your New Year Resolutions for 2023, but you’re running out of ideas? Embrace Brisbane to the rescue! There is a theme to this list: it’s a list about expanding our horizons, understanding each other, and most of all caring about every aspect of the life we all share together. I know from experience that these lists are rarely completed, but as a part of our New Year’s resolution, let’s try.
1. Eat a balanced diet of fruit and vegetables
If you want to stay healthy, but can’t keep up with fancy diets, just try placing a little more fruit and vegetables in the shopping trolley.
2. Wake up without phone activity for 30 minutes
Do you find that your phone is your first-morning interaction? Swap out the screen for serenity and try doing meditation in the morning instead.
3. Learn your grammar; use of affect vs effect and how utilise the semicolon
Is spell check still correcting your use of effect vs affect? Have you yet to master the semicolon? Well, you’re not alone. Conquer grammar in the New Year!
4. Join a book club
Celebrate the joy of books with like-minded individuals. Challenge yourself to read a novel you might have initially rejected.
5. Climb a mountain
Embrace a physical challenge in 2023. Trust us, the view will be worth it.
6. Get your photo taken in 5 places you’ve never been before
Spice up your Insta or Facebook account and go exploring and travelling to some local, yet unsung locations.
7. Learn to like yourself
Sometimes you just need to appreciate yourself. Next time you look in the mirror, give yourself a mirror high five, a cheeky wink, or a compliment.
8. Listen to your emotions
Understand and educate yourself on the struggles of mental health and its triggers and signs. Make sure to hear other people’s struggles too!
9. Learn something you never learned as a child
Never learned how to skip or hula hoop? Return to the bliss of missed childhood wonders.
10. Try out a social sport
It doesn’t have to be soccer or touch rugby; pick something that suits your physical ability and throw yourself into a challenge.
11. Change something you hate about your life
Don’t let something that you can change be the result of your unhappiness.
12. Set yourself a task and don’t let the internet distract you (for at least one hour)
The internet is a treasure cove of procrastination wonder. Aim to not be tempted into its clutches when completing a pending task.
13. Read an entire article, not just the headline
Educate yourself on all the facts on an issue, not just the headline.
14. Recycle more – take your reusable bags to the shops, use metal or paper straws
Next year, do your bit to save the planet. We all have to live here (until the Martians come that is).
15. Have more patience with slow internet
The internet is a beautiful thing, but it’s not our life line. Use slow internet to practice exercising patience.
16. Write to a pen pal
Engage in a friendship with someone you haven’t met. Check out Interpals and PenPal World to meet your next international buddy.
17. Try a sleep cycle app
Download a sleep cycle app and monitor your sleep patterns in order to help achieve the freshest and well-rested version of yourself.
18. Be compassionate
Have compassion and listen to people whose life experiences differ from yours.
19. Broaden your horizons and digest opinions from every angle
Digest some philosophy. I would recommend dabbling in Socrates and Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, the pioneer of Nihilism. You could also start paying attention to that thing called ‘politics’.
20. Understand someone else’s religion
In an era with ultimate access to information, let’s make an effort to understand each other: no barriers, no prejudice, no ignorance.
