Starting the New Year on a Positive

I’m not talking about New Years Eve, dressing up, having amazing plans and getting ridiculously drunk – in fact, I’m not one for bothering with New Years Eve plans anymore now I don’t drink or go clubbing – I’m talking about the scary prospect of a whole new year ahead of you. When you can leave the trials and tribulations of the previous year behind and, as cliché as it honestly does sound, have a fresh start. I’ve always found this transitioning period from one year to the next an important time and here’s some things that I’ve done – and still do – to help me get the New Year off to a positive start.

1. Sort out and tidy up your living/work space: Whether this is your bedroom, your entire house or your office desk, this one is really important to me. I love cleaning and de-cluttering anyway and there’s nothing I find more satisfying and rewarding than throwing things out and giving my room some order. I do this sporadically throughout the year but at the end of the year, I do an extra thorough job so I know everything is how it should be for the new year.
2. Buy a diary: There’s nothing better than a new diary or notebook and us bloggers love our stationary! (And don’t pretend you don’t…!) Now’s the chance to splash out on a gorgeous new diary for the year ahead, even if you always give up after a few months, you never know that this could be the year you keep at it. Having a place where all your contacts, appointments, plans and thoughts are in one, handy place can be a life-saver!
3. Pamper yourself: I don’t mean getting ready with your friends for a night out, I mean just you, on your own and spending a day or evening focusing on yourself. Having this quality alone time, especially over the festive period is hard but important, I find. I love to spend an evening having a bath, painting my toe nails, using face masks and all kind of weird and wonderful products that you probably wouldn’t use on a regular busy day. Starting the new year feeling confident in yourself can have an incredible affect.
4. Treat yourself: This kind of ties in with the above but I love treating myself to something at the beginning of the year. Usually I have some leftover Christmas money and although I’m a keen saver, I like to keep some back and buy something nice for myself to give myself a little extra boost. In 2016, I think that’s going to be a couple of new dresses from Boohoo!
5. Write down your goals and aims for the new year: Even if you’ve never stuck to any of your goals before, there’s absolutely no harm in getting down on paper what you hope to achieve for the coming year. Resolutions are hard so I try no to stick to set things anymore, just a basic outline of things I’d like to hopefully improve on or increase in the new year. I wrote my own goals for 2016, here!
6. Clear your computer: As a blogger, I have hundreds and hundreds of photos and documents on my laptop that have accumulated over the year. Most of which, I no longer need. So at the end of the year, when I know I haven’t got anymore blogging to do for a little while, I’ll always go through my photos, delete what I can and then put the rest on a USB stick so I can clear my laptop and have a fresh, clean slate for the new year!

On that note, I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and have a wonderful New Year! I’d love to know what you do, if anything, to prepare for the year ahead!