10 important things to do in the first week of the new year

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Allow yourself to rest more and think less about “achieving”.

1. Get enough sleep and restore the regime

The bustle of the New Year's Eve must have exhausted you - all these burning deadlines at work, a shopping run, general cleaning, decorating an apartment, learning poems with children for a matinee in kindergarten, a culinary marathon at the stove. And then another whole festive night, for some it was rather stormy. After this, you just need to recuperate, and above all - turn off the alarms and sleep well.

If during the New Year's holidays your regime breaks down, it is worthwhile to set aside three days to restore it. After all, getting up on the first working day at seven in the morning after going to bed at four is a dubious pleasure.

• Go to bed no later than 23 hours and every day try to get up a little earlier than the day before.
• Avoid naps during this period to avoid disrupting your circadian rhythms. If you feel very sleepy, you can take a 15–20 minute nap between 1 and 3 pm.
• Be careful with caffeinated drinks: tea, coffee, energy drinks. The best solution would be to skip them or limit yourself to 1-2 cups a day.
• Wet your bedroom, replace the bedding with fresh bedding, use a sleep mask, or buy blackout curtains to keep the room dark at night.
• Try not to use gadgets at least an hour before bedtime.

2. "Tighten"

It seems like the New Year is the perfect starting point to start a new life: go to fitness, sign up for foreign language lessons, post a resume on a job site and start looking for a better job.

But doing all this right during the holidays, as soon as the chimes sounded and fireworks went off, in fact, is not a good idea. For new achievements, you need to accumulate resources. And where can you get them if you haven't rested properly?

At least in the first week of the year, try not to "build" yourself, but allow yourself to relax and do what you want. Lie in a crib, eat goodies, read a couple of books from the winter Lifehacker, arrange a New Year's marathon, play plenty of games. When else can you enjoy such all-encompassing idleness?

3. Meet with loved ones

New Year's holidays are simply created in order to go on a visit, skate with friends, spend cozy evenings with loved ones at a laid table, illuminated by flashing lights of Christmas tree garlands. There is no need to rush anywhere and worry about getting up for work tomorrow - you can be here and now and enjoy the time spent with dear people.

4. Respond to all congratulations

It is likely that on December 31, you simply did not have the physical opportunity to respond to everyone who congratulated you in messengers or social networks, and congratulate your friends yourself. It's okay - there is a whole vacation ahead: you can set aside time and send everyone sincere thoughtful wishes.

5. Take a walk

Walk through the winter park and admire how the bluish snow flickers in the light of the lanterns, breathe in the frosty air, ride down the slides on tubing, go to the skating rink, go to the forest on skis, make a snowman with children in the yard, lie on fresh snow and make a “snowy angel.

This is both pleasant physical activity, and fun, and good impressions, and just a way to shake things up a little after you have "puffed up" to your heart's content. Just remember that if you drank heavily, you should not go for a walk, otherwise there is a risk of injury or hypothermia.

6. Set up food

During the holidays, many overeat, lean on heavy and fatty foods, and do not observe the intervals between meals. Nothing terrible about that, but when the holiday weekend comes to an end, a knocked out diet can haunt you. Gluttony and low mobility cause drowsiness and indigestion.

Here are some tips to help you return to a healthier diet.

• Don't blame yourself for eating too much: guilt makes people overeat even more.
• You don't need to starve or go on a strict diet. This is the path to breakdown, weight gain, and self-flagellation.
• Start by reducing your portion size a little, avoiding too long intervals between meals, and getting up from the table when you feel full.
• First of all, eat natural foods that have been minimally processed: cereals, legumes, fresh meat and fish, brown rice, whole grain bread, vegetables, fruits, pasta.
• Provide yourself with a varied and delicious meal. Very often people go to junk food and sweets because there are no tasty healthy alternatives at home.
• Remember to drink water. Sometimes we overeat because we confuse hunger with thirst.

7. Take stock and make plans

Rushing to fulfill New Year's promises right away is probably not the best idea. If you don't get enough rest, don't restore sleep and nutrition, it will be difficult to run in the morning, quit smoking and develop good habits. But calmly focusing on planning until you are covered with work will be just in place.

A long vacation is a good time to evaluate the past year, think about what you would like to come to in the coming year, set goals and develop a strategy that will help you achieve them. Just do not take on too much, try not to be distracted from your real capabilities. Most people overdo their New Year's promises, and they remain unfulfilled.

8. Clean up houses

Even if you did some general cleaning and clutter up the house before the holidays, during the holidays it is almost certainly a mess again. Dirty dishes in the sink, fallen Christmas needles on the floor, confetti between cushions, scattered things - it's best to eliminate all of this before you go to work. Then the slight chaos at home will not spoil your mood and slow down your productivity.

It is not necessary to arrange a full cleaning. Walk around the apartment with a vacuum cleaner, put things in their places, wipe off the dust - the house will become much tidier. You can do it even easier - call the cleaning service, and go for a walk or to the cinema yourself.

9. "Take out" digital trash

Subscriptions to unnecessary applications and services, duplicate photos, notifications in the mailbox, old documents, five thousand screenshots that were required for work, but now no longer. All this "junk" takes up space in the device's memory, takes money, prevents you from finding the information you need and spoils your mood.

New Years holidays is a great time to finally clear out these digital Augean stables. Moreover, this can be done without even getting up from the couch.

Understand the question?

What is digital detox and how to know you need it right now

Mari Kondo, tidying expert and author of the KonMari Method, in her new book Magical Cleaning at Work suggests regular digital decluttering.

First, you need to divide all digital objects into several categories, and then work with each separately. The key principle of the method: you need to clean up quickly, without regret throwing away what does not cause a "spark of joy", that is, pleasant emotions or memories.

• Files. Create two folders. Transfer everything that brings joy to one, to the other - important photos and documents that you use and that cannot be downloaded from the Internet or cloud storage. Delete what has not been included in any other folder.
• Messages and letters. Empty the trash and the "Spam" folder, unsubscribe from mailings that you do not read, for example, using the service. Then repeat the same process as for the files. Divide letters into joyful and important ones, and delete those that do not belong to any category.
• Subscriptions and Apps. Give up everything that you do not use regularly and that does not make you happy. You hardly need five different streaming services if you only watch a couple, and you don't need a few diaries or workout apps either. As soon as you really need them, you can immediately download them again.

10. Buy yourself something nice

Gifts can - and should - be given not only to others, but also to yourself. Buy what you have dreamed of for a long time, go for a pleasant procedure like a massage, or treat yourself to at least a cute little thing: a good book, a cute scarf, a pack of fragrant tea. You definitely deserve it.

Read also?

• 50 activities that will not let you get bored on New Year's holidays
• Services and apps to help you keep your New Year promises
• 6 tips for those looking to keep their New Year promises