Ready for the New Year? 5 Key Areas for Self-Improvement [Getting Started]

Many people take an interest in preparing for the new year. A new year means a new beginning, a fresh start, and a blank slate. It’s easy to feel excited about what’s going to come. We ask questions about opportunities and our future. What will our families, careers, and general lives look like a few months or one year from now? The impending year can also overwhelm and create apprehension – the latter of which slows down efforts to prepare for or enjoy the new year. What’s more, the new year may be identical to last year; life might be stuck in a monotonous loop with no apparent end. No wonder people turn their attention to new year’s preparation. There’s quite a lot to consider!

So, why spend time preparing for the new year? For one thing, preparing for the new year brings our current experiences into greater focus. We learn about ourselves and set ourselves up for what comes next. A prime example is setting a new year’s resolution. A resolution often includes reflection and planning. Reflection promotes understanding and curiosity. Planning directs our reflection toward application and action. This simple yet powerful process can make the new year manageable. Thus, reflecting on the previous year and looking ahead sets us up for success.

I believe a helpful guide for our preparation comes through the lens of health and well-being and 5 key areas for self-improvement. First, we will look at the benefits of preparation and the potential impact of not doing so. Our preparation does not exist in a vacuum, though, and must be given context. Additionally, each area will be explored as individual weekly articles dedicated to evaluating important considerations and examples for direct application.

Here for the Experience

Health and well-being have become and continue to be cornerstones for living a good life. More and more I hear people commenting on the state of their mental well-being or bringing their thoughts and feelings to a discussion that would otherwise be superficial (like running errands – I seem to hear more about how a stranger influenced someone’s life at the store than their loved ones do!). Facetiousness aside, these expressions go beyond stating an opinion. Ordinary moments become elevated and alive when a conscious effort is made to curiously explore and reflect on our experiences. Think about how many moments happen in your life. The daily amount alone is astounding! Can you imagine how your life would feel with a greater connection to each moment? Life would be much more active and engaging – opening the door for life to be something that you do, rather than something that happens to you.

For instance, starting a new job signals a change in daily living and a shift within routines. Your plans might focus on start and end times for the workday, planning mealtimes, and optimizing task completion to ensure your productivity. However, working in a new position is more than a simple change in duties or lifestyle. Focusing on the changes alone, while disregarding how those changes are experienced, will result in more challenges than celebrations (or at least lead us to miss out on the full experience). This disregard falls under the category of life happening to us rather than living life. We end up reacting to moments and adopting robotic patterns just to get through. Life becomes burdensome and less satisfying.

Perhaps you are not anticipating or experiencing a significant change or life event with the new year. Even still, think about yourself and your experiences from the past year of life. Change occurs throughout the year, no matter how slight. Being prepared will mean the right tools are available for managing and adapting to what comes next. Equally valuable is gaining knowledge of what benefited you during the previous year.

5 Key Areas for Self-Improvement

So many layers. Where to begin? Below is a list of areas that significantly impacts our lives. This list contains general points of interest within the larger scope of our lives and positions them as vague categories. One thing to note is that this list by no means exhausts all areas that impact us. Rather, the areas we will cover are meant to focus our attention on common influences and simplify our otherwise complicated lives.

1. Mental Health

2. Stress Management

3. Relationship Health

4. The Influence of Culture and Society

5. Goal Setting

As you review the list, I imagine you are considering how your life looks within each area. Wonderful! You are already prioritizing and connecting with these parts of your life. You have taken the first step in cultivating greater personal and relationship growth. For now, I will leave you to reflect on this list in anticipation of the first topic: Mental Health.

The Beauty of Beginnings

Preparing for the new year means opening the door for your health and well-being to thrive. Though complex at times, the 5 key areas for self-improvement promote deep connection with our life experiences. Each area is integral to understand the path your life has taken and the direction you are heading toward. Planning for short-term and long-term changes becomes more accessible when significant parts of life are at the forefront of our minds. As a result, we find ourselves in an advantageous position to discover more about ourselves and the world around us. Then comes action. Preparation is only the beginning. We see the fruits of our labor in the way we apply our preparation. Let's start this new year by confidently growing in our experiences of life!