A new year … A new decade … A new you? Many of us start a new year with resolutions, goals, and the desire to break out of our routine or mold.
While there is a certain comfort and discipline in repeating the same routine and habits day after day, year after year – we don’t grow by doing the same things over and over.
This year, a new decade, I encourage you to change it up – try something new. Take a cooking class or guitar lessons, learn a new language, call an old friend to go for a walk and reconnect, read something different from your normal, join a Bible study, eat a new food, or just drive home a different route than usual. Mix it up! Change your routine and challenge yourself!
Trying new things can increase our confidence and self-esteem. It can reduce boredom and loneliness as it increases our personal growth. It can make us happy! It is fun to be in a new environment, meet new people, and learn something different. You are giving yourself permission to expand your horizons. Trying something new can take us just enough away from our comfort zone and established routines to give us the feeling that we are on vacation. All of this improves our health as it boosts our immune system. It also prolongs longevity, and as we age. It will keep us younger!
Lifelong learning and stretching ourselves are important to our physical and mental wellbeing as well as our happiness. What is your something new in 2020?
Wishing you great health in this New Year!
Jayne Dwyer-Reff, RN,
School Nurse