HUGABOX | Top Resolutions for College Students in 2019

Resolutions are a great way to set goals for the year to come. The end of the year is a great time to take stock and see what in your life you want to improve upon, new challenges you want to overcome, or even new things you want to try. For those of you in college, resolutions are a fantastic way to set yourself up for success for the next year.

Fall and winter are busy times for college students, and sometimes we let our lives go a little awry just trying to keep up with it all! Consider creating a resolution or two to get some things back on track or focus more on what’s important to you that may have been pushed aside this semester.

Resolutions can be simple things like taking an art class to more challenging things like committing to give up coffee. (yikes!) Whatever you choose for your resolution, make sure you have a way to track it, stay accountable, and give yourself room for error. Resolutions aren’t about perfection, they’re about making little adjustments in your life and making improvements where you can.

Give yourself a break and make sure you are setting yourself up for success!

Here are some of the top resolutions for college students in 2019.

1. Meditate.

College is stressful. Find just a few minutes every day to calm your mind.
Meditation has been known to show many benefits including reducing stress, controlling anxiety, and lengthing attention spans. Those benefits should be worth five to ten minutes a day, don’t you agree? If you need some help getting started or would prefer a guided meditation, there are some great apps out there like Calm and Headspace that offer some simple guided meditations you can easily follow along with. Remember, meditation isn’t about being perfectly clear-headed and in a zen state the entire time, it’s simply bringing your attention back to a single point of focus like your breath when your mind wanders, which it will. It will get easier over time, but there is no wrong way to meditate. Don’t give up if it’s a challenge at first!

2. Drink more water.

I know, I know. We tell ourselves this all the time. We’ve got to be drinking more water! Staying well hydrated will help you increase your energy, aid your digestion, boost your immunity, and improve your skin. In a nutshell, water is essential for your body to function, so grab a fun water bottle, and when you’re thirsty, take a drink!

3. Reduce your carbon footprint.

In 2013, Americans generated about 254 million tons of trash. That’s a lot of trash! Help reduce the size of landfills and carbon emissions by making a few small changes. Bring your own coffee cups when you buy coffee out. Say no to straws at restaurants. Bring your own water bottle with you (this will also help with resolution #2!) Look for more ways you can reduce the amount of environmental impact you create every day. Things like taking the bus once or twice a week instead of driving will have huge benefits over time. Join a Buy Nothing group and post what you need instead of buying new. These groups are especially great in college areas as there are so many students moving all the time who are looking to get rid of everything from household appliances to clothes, all for free! When you do need to purchase something new, consider sites like Buy Me Once, which features products with a lifetime guarantee. 

4. Go somewhere new.

Travel is tough when you’re in college, but that doesn’t mean you can’t explore new places! Try picking a town or city within driving or bus distance and plan a day trip. Explore somewhere you’ve never been OR even explore where you are with a new set of eyes. Take a walking tour. Go to a museum. Do the touristy things you never make time for when you live somewhere.

5. Read for fun.

I’m sure your course load requires you to do a fair amount of required reading but reading for fun can not only be enjoyable but will improve your reading skills all around, which will help greatly when you are back to reading the stuff you have to vs want to. If that’s just too much face-in-book time for you, consider audiobooks. While you won’t get the same benefits as reading the text, you will still get the enjoyment of new stories and ideas.

Services like Audible let you listen to thousands of books from your computer or smartphone, or you can even check out audiobooks for free from the library with OverDrive.

6. Finish your assignments BEFORE they are due.

This sounds like some kind of pipe dream to some of you I am sure! However, setting the intention to finish all of your assignments before they are due can help you stay on track. The trick? When you are imputing your deadlines into your planner, make the deadline one day earlier.

7. Set a fitness goal.

Weight loss is probably the most common new year's resolution. We all feel a little frumpy if we overindulge during the holidays. But setting a fitness goal doesn’t have to be tied to weight loss. As a matter of fact, it’s much healthier and satisfying if it’s not. Weight isn’t the only factor to health, and focusing only on what the scale says can be misleading and also frustrating! Instead choose to hit 10,000 steps in a day. The Fit Bit is a great way to track steps taken each day and provides encouragement when reaching goals (10,000 steps = a celebratory vibration with congratulatory badge). In addition, a recent college graduate reported that use of her Fit Bit helped to decrease her healthcare premiums at work. 

Train for a 5K or a half marathon. Practice yoga once a week to increase your mobility. Set a new weight training goal for bench press or the number of pull-ups you can do. Take a new group exercise class. Mix it up! Whatever fitness goal you choose, find a way to make it measurable and to stay accountable. Grab a friend and commit to activities together and regular check-ins with one another.

8. Reduce your screen time.

We’re so attached to our screens in this day and age. Computers and cell phones make it pretty impossible to completely cut out that glow of the screen, but consider ways you can cut back.  Looking at screens all day carries some unexpected effects like sleep disruptions, vision impairment, and even your emotions and self-confidence. According to Dr. Michael Golitz at the Eye & Contact Lens Center in Kirkland, Washington, "Long term effects from harmful blue rays can cause macular degeneration and other eye & retinal diseases. The key is to reduce your exposure by limiting your screen time or by applying a protective coating (Retinal Bliss) to your eyeglass lenses."

Some examples of ways to reduce your screen time:
• Reduce your TV watching to 45 minutes to an hour a day.
• Set a cutoff time at 9:30 PM to turn off all screen devices.
• Pay attention to where your screen time goes and see what you can cut back on or remove completely. Most phones will now let you see what apps you spend most of your time on. Are there any that are more distracting than they should be?

What are your new year’s resolutions this year?