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Home » Diets that Work » 10 new years resolutions to make (instead of the ones we always do) – GQ India

It's that time of year againour eyes are filled with hope and our hearts are filled with resolve to be ourselves 2.0 for the start of the new decade. But, in light of the year weve had, we thought wed look at the usual goals we tend to set for ourselves at the end of every yuletide from the lens of what weve been through since the pandemic. Here are our 2021-specific modifications for some of the biggest goals we set each year, and how to try and actually make them a reality, for once...

1. Being Fitter Versus Losing Weight

People can weigh very little and be terribly unfit, and weight quite a bit while they look fantastic and feel strong. Instead of trying to be thinner, try to be fitter than your 2020 selfwhatever that entails for you. Whether its riding a bike around the city, taking long walks, or going hardcore on the strength training, aim to up your game and work towards being fitter instead. The weight will follow as it must.

2. Eating Smarter Versus Trying A Popular Diet

Intermittent fasting, Paleo, Atkins, GMtheyve all had their moment in the sun, and there will always be another fad diet with epic results around the corner. But the truth is it worked for me! often leads a lot of us down scary paths. Find a diet that works for youconsult a nutritionist, or chart out things you can intelligently do without eliminating important food groups altogether, or putting your body through the kind of rigour it cant handle. A smart diet that you can actually stick to has far higher chances of working than the rush of anything extreme.

3. Going Flexitarian Versus Going Vegan

While many people vow that every year will be the year they give up all animal products, it's the easiest resolution to break because your body simply isnt used to it. Both a mix of cravings and an unaccounted-for nutritional adjustment can make a cold turkey (tofurkey?) switch pretty hard to follow through with. A flexitarian diet, one that allows you to switch between veganism and your regular diet, with things like meatless days, or replacing some animal-based products in your life (like cows milk) with plant-based alternatives (like almond or oat milk), will help you ease into the change with greater comfortor to make enough of a change without giving up everything you love.

4. To Appreciate Things More Versus To Achieve More Things

If this hurricane of a year has taught us anything, it's the importance of holding on. Slowing down and looking around these last few months have made us realise how much we already have, and how easily we tend to forget that. In 2021, instead of setting impossible career or personal goals, choose instead to pay attention to the things you have achievedwhether it's having become CEO, a new parent, starting a podcast or paying your rent without anyone elses help. Weve weathered a lot in 2020, and thats definitely good enough.

5. To Cut Down Vs To Quit

Whether its smoking or kicking a video game obsession, telling yourself youll cut something you love doing out of your life for good is setting yourself up to fail. When youre hard on yourself to the point where you dont allow for lapses, your resolve will break and old patterns will reign supreme. Set goals over time, telling yourself youll bring down quantities of what youre trying to give up a little more every month or two. Even if you never fully quit, youll be down to far less damage done.

6. To Start Learning A Skill Versus To Master A Skill

Speaking fluent Spanish by 2022 is a great goalbut life is likely to get in your way. Theres a job to do, bills to pay, Netflix to watch and maybe next year becomes a go-to thought. The problem is, we set the clock for our resolutions at midnight, expiring exactly a year to the date, and that makes many longer goals unreachable. Speaking Spanish like Miguel de Cervantes might be a 2025 goal, but speaking it enough to cross the street and order a bocadillo without stuttering on your next trip to Barcelona is a pretty great start.

7. To Travel Meaningfully Versus Travelling More

2020 took travel away from us entirely for a whileand made us realise exactly how much we took it for granted. Everything from Turks & Caicos to Antalya was but a flight away, waiting for when we would deign to take our next break. With the world still in flux, the usual goal of travelling more might not hold up as much. Instead, we can resolve to travel meaningfully. Choose places that arent overburdened by tourism, plan our breaks carefully to ensure theyre safe, and make the most of our time there by really enjoying our time, wherever we are. You might travel a quarter as much as 2019, but youll have a better chance of remembering it fondly.

8. To Drink For Pleasure Versus Drinking Less

Being smart about alcohol intake is always a goal worth paying attention to, but we often tackle it in vague ways. We vow to drink less, but less could be next month instead of right nowand it usually ends up in neverland. A lot of us drink as a social behaviour, or even as a force of habit, but asking yourself if you really feel like a drink that day is a good indicator of whether you need one. Youll find yourself saying no more oftenand when you do drink, youll enjoy it more.

9. To Limit Screen Time Versus Doing A Digital Detox

Cutting off all virtual contact is a noble goal every millennial has had, and many of us take to deactivating an account for our mental health every so oft. But in our working worlds, were far too tethered to devices to be able to make a meaningful disconnect. A thought, instead, is to cleanse yourself of apps and portals you dont really care about, and put a stopwatch on time spent on the ones you do.

10. To Be Happy Versus To Be Productive

Productive is a construct. If you think making banana bread will make your prouder of yourself than bingeing The Mandalorian, it's a terrible reason to do it. For one, it puts pressure on you to perform at a time when most people are barely hanging on. For the other, it could be awful banana bread that you then inflict on unsuspecting family. Unless baking banana bread, to quote Marie Kondo, brings you joy, just toss those mushy bananas and pop some packaged corn instead, wont you?

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10 new years resolutions to make (instead of the ones we always do) - GQ India

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Home » Diets that Work » 10 new years resolutions to make (instead of the ones we always do) – GQ India