5 New Year’s Resolutions You Need To Make For 2023

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Happy New Year! I’ve been looking forward to 2023 for quite some time actually. I’ve been making some goals and New Year’s resolutions in my head for the past couple months and I’m excited to turn over a new leaf. Because I’ve put some thought into this, more so than I usually do, I’ve come up with 5 resolutions you need in order to better themselves should make.

Usually I come up to a new year apprehensive of what lies ahead. This year hits different for me. It’s not that 2022 was particularly bad. My husband (I call him Bert) and I actually made some pretty big changes in 2022. That’s not to say that it wasn’t completely easy. We had our share of setbacks and plenty of tears. I realize that 2023 and every year after that will have just as many setbacks and failures. What’s important is to push through those struggles in order to achieve the goals you want. That’s why I came up with the 5 resolutions you need to make for 2023.

1. Focus on Your Walk with God

Obviously, this is what most Christians make in some regard every year. Unfortunately, it’s hardly kept. My confession in this area is that I never read my Bible through until 2022. When I did, it took me 21 months. That was one of my main goals because I knew year 30 was coming up quickly for me, and I didn’t want to reach 30 without never having read the Bible through from cover to cover.

Maybe your resolution is different in some way. Maybe, instead of reading through the Bible in one year, you decide like me to just read it through. Or, you can decide to focus on consistency and want to make a resolution to read your Bible every day for 5 minutes. It doesn’t have to be just Bible reading, though. It can be about being more faithful in church, getting more involved in church, or memorizing scripture every month or week.

The hard part then is to stay motivated and consistent. There were some valuable lessons I learned when I decided to read through my Bible. These lessons kept me in check the entire (mostly entire) 21 months and gave me the determination to keep going.

a. Focus on Yourself

                          It can be selfish in other areas, but it holds true when it comes to the Christian walk. Any other Christian could be further along in their walk than you. they know more verses or they have all the answers. It can be discouraging when you compare yourself to what in your mind is the perfect Christian.

                           Focus on your personal walk with God and what specific areas in your walk need improvement. Stop the comparison game. All it does is ruin relationships with others anyways. When you stop comparing, you’re better able to focus your attention where it needs to be, and it’s easier to be happy for others when they make accomplishments (rather than to be jealous).

Give so much time to improving yourself that you don’t have time to criticize others.

-(ParaPhrased From) Hal elrod, the miracle morning

b. Get a Plan

                              If you consistently set a time a part in your day each day for Bible reading/study, it’s easier to form that habit. After the 21 days it notoriously takes to form a habit (according to Google), it’s much easier to look at your clock and realize it’s time to read the Bible each day.

                              It’s also important to get a plan on what to read. I’ve tried jumping around before, it doesn’t work. Inevitably you pick all your favorite books, easy books to read when your energy is there at the start. Typically you start with Proverbs, James, or 1 John. Eventually, all you have left are the hard books and you’re ready to quit. Or, you start with the hard books to get them out of the way first—books like Leviticus or Numbers. Inevitably those two weeks of trying to form the habit are shot, because you have no excitement in what you’re reading.

                              There’s several plans out there that outline reading through the Bible in a year. If a year is too much for you (like it was for me), read half of what they have, and then read the second half the next day. I’ve found that the plan that works the best for me is one where it has a passage of the Old Testament to read, a passage of the New Testament, and a Psalm or Proverb each day. This way, when I’m reading a rather dull book like Leviticus, I know I’ll still get to read a Psalm or Proverb and a New Testament passage too.

c. Give Yourself a Reward

My Bible was falling apart when I started the reading plan. It was the Bible I got while I was in college, so it also had my maiden name on it (a gift from my grandparents). I told myself if I read through the Bible completely, I would buy myself a new Bible as a gift for myself. And, I would pay the extra money to have my married name engraved on the cover. That was a big deal for me, especially since I habitually never pay the extra fees for extra stuff.

                              It totally worked! Every day when I would open my Bible and pages would start to fall out from being worn, it reminded me of my goal and promise to myself. I even envisioned myself picking out my Bible at the store some days. Let me tell ya, that was the best feeling in the world, walking up to the check out counter with an engraved Bible. It’s the little things.

This resolution area isn’t so much about reading through the Bible (although now I encourage so many to try it because of the rewards you get) as it is about actively making changes in your quiet time to improve your walk with Christ. Seeing how many verses you can memorize in a year is going to improve your walk with Christ so much! So is consistency, focusing on fruits of the spirit or the armor of God, or any other Bible theme for the year. These paragraphs about Bible reading are just what I did that made a drastic change in my walk.

2. Make Changes To Improve Your Physical Health

Most New Years Resolutions include some sort of physical fitness goal. The problem is, most of them are about losing weight. We have a magic number in our head, a goal weight we want to reach. We remember how we felt when we were this weight and think, “If I’ll just get there, I’ll be happy.” I think the reason why we typically fail at them is because our goal is too narrow minded, shallow, and boring.

Sometimes our goal weight is 40 pounds from where we currently are, and the thought of losing that much weight in a year seems impossible. So we give up. Sometimes we’re focused on losing weight by eliminating sugar, but don’t want to put in the sweaty exercise to do it. Sometimes we decide we’ll do the hard workouts, only if we can stop and get something at our favorite restaurant on our way home.

               What type of fitness goal can keep you from failing? A tangible goal you can see. A goal of running the fastest mile you’ve ever run. All you have to do is walk/run one mile every day until you build your endurance and strength up. Do you realize how short a mile is? On your bad days when you don’t feel like it, you tell yourself “The longest this is going to take me is 20 minutes tops” or “I’m just going to walk today. It’s still a mile”.

Make a goal of building flexibility. Every night before bed, I’m going to stretch for 10 minutes. It’s 10 minutes. I can add that to my night routine easily. Keep in mind you can make these goals even if you’re a gym rat and have a consistent workout routine. “I’m going to box jump 10 times every day until I can land completely on the tallest box every time.” “I’m going to stretch my legs after every workout until I can do the splits”. You’re giving yourself something you can be proud of, something you can share about, something you can inspire others to accomplish their own fitness goals too.

3. Step Out of Your Comfort Zone–Do That One Thing You’ve Always Thought About Doing

This is the hardest goal I can think of making. It’s the one you have a million fears about, fears that are keeping you from accomplishing it. It’s the one you think you’ll never be able to do because you don’t have enough time. Hint: this is why I have my blog. Another area that I’ve struggled with stepping out of my comfort zone is serving in the church. You can read more about that here.

If you really, truly want to do it, you have to cut out time in your schedule to make time to do it. You have to consistently stop listening to your fears. You become your worst enemy every time you attempt it. It’s uncomfortable, awkward, and hard. Others might find out about it and laugh.

You only get one chance to live the life you want to live. Eventually, it will be too late. Sure, it’s never too late to start, everyone says. But eventually, yes, it will be too late. Your health will get worse. Your family will change. The time to do it is now, not later.

4. Learn Something New

This can be the same as #3, but I’m thinking more about hobbies when I write this. It’s the goal you’re going to have to accomplish by cutting out more time. You’re going to have to watch a gazillion youtube videos, take a course somewhere, or learn from someone in your church. You’ve always thought about learning it, but you know you’ll have to put yourself out there to ask for help. You’d rather just ignore it. You know you’re going to start it and it’s going to suck. It’ll suck so hard it’s probably going to be embarrassing. It’s easier to forget the whole thing.

I encourage you, though, learn something new! Challenge your brain mentally or challenge your body physically. If you don’t even know where to start, look up lists of hobbies on Pinterest. Find class schedules offered at your nearest community college for adults. So what if you’re the youngest person there in a group of 60 year olds? Or, you’re the oldest in a group of 20-somethings? Honestly, I’m not sure what would be worse or better, lol. Keep your head down, ignore the noise, and make it fun for yourself. If you need some more inspiration about what that new hobby should be, check out my post about New Hobby Ideas!

5. Expand on That Skill You’ve Learned But Haven’t Mastered

Most everyone has hobbies they like doing. For some, it’s a high school sport they used to play and haven’t in years. For me, it’s the violin. I took lessons starting in 6^th grade for 3 years. I started to play for solo and ensemble and recitals and immediately regretted my decision. All through my practicing it was just me in a room and it was fine. The first time I tried to play for an audience with a judge, my hand shook so hard, the bow running across the violin strings fell off the strings with a loud squeak on every note. My second recital wasn’t much better.

Once high school hit, I used the excuse that I was too involved in high school activities (partly true) that I didn’t have time to practice to my parents and they agreed to let me quit. Thankfully, I never got rid of my violin. Once I got married, I took it with me. I thought I might pick it up again at some point. There were even times that I contemplated selling it.

This past year was a year I decided I was going to take more time on improving myself. One of the areas was by playing my violin. Finding a violin teacher, practicing pieces I had played long ago, and getting some fun music to learn were all ways that helped me stay consistent with it. It takes 7 years to master a skill. Sometime, maybe, you’ll find my name on an orchestra list.

There’s so many ways to improve yourself in 2023. So many goals that you can accomplish. Don’t waste the time you’re given on frivolous tv shows and iPhone games. Here’s to wishing you all the best in your actions, goals, dreams and endeavors in 2023!