Inspiration for the New Year – 12 Ways to Make This Year Your Best Year

The beginning of the year is such a powerful time of reflection, goal planning, and dreaming. Dreaming of the person we desire to be in the new year. In order to help you in the dreaming and envisioning process, I have for you specific tips of inspiration for the new year. 12 specific tips to encourage you to live your best life throughout the course of the entire year!

An Important Note in Regards to Inspiration and Motivation to Live Your Best Life This Year

I understand more than most, how quickly one can fall to the expectations of perfectionism. How easy it can be to sit in the trap of feeling like every single thing has to be perfectly put together all of the time. Therefore, as you read through the inspiration for the new year, I preface all of this with grace. Abundant grace. Grace for yourself. A grace to just be and to live freely. A freedom to live away from all the expectation, pressure, lies of comparison, insecurity and feelings of lack of worth.

Therefore, a curated list full of inspiration for the new year. A list more for a position and lifestyle, but not just any lifestyle, a lifestyle of the heart. More intentionally, a list to ensure that you make this next year, your best year!

Inspiration for the New Year – 12 Tips to Make This Next Year Your Best One Yet

In hopes to share some inspiration for the New Year, all in order for you to make this the year where you can be fully proud of. So that this year can be the year you finally say yes to living the life you have always wanted to live. A life that is full of intention and great purpose. Sharing with you 12 simple tips to inspire you in the new year. 12 tips to make this next year your best year yet!

Inspiration for the New Year Tip #1 – More REST.

The very first tip for inspiration for the new year is to focus on more rest. We live in a society that expects us to never stop. A world where we are told that we have to do, and do, and do some more. Where if we aren’t continuously working hard or burning our stamina at all ends then we are doing something wrong. Or if we can’t stop and rest then the world thinks we are weak, not strong enough to be the person we want to be.

That is so, SO wrong. What a wrong expectation to hold onto. Where is the society that encourages rest, the society that encourages people feeling GOOD and living their best life for themselves. And that BEST life happens when we REST.

Therefore, let this be the year where you REST. The year where you rest MORE. Rest FREELY and rest OFTEN. The year where you decide that it is MORE THAN OKAY to not completely finish your to-do list. Furthermore, the year where you realize that your self-health is the MOST important thing and should be the priority on all of your lists. So promise me this, if you only follow through on one item here on my own little list of inspiration for the new year, promise me that you will REST.

Inspiration for the New Year Tip #2 – More SILENCE.

The second tip for inspiration for the new year is to embrace more silence. We fill our days with endless noise. Whether that is music, the radio, children talking in the background, the television, or just the world around us. We find ourselves always listening to noise. And when that outside noise stops, we panic. We panic because we do not know how to handle the silence.

To be honest, my most satisfying car rides are the rides where I find that I have made the drive home from work without even turning on the radio. And I realize just how satisfying it is. To just sit. To simply be. And when there is more silence, your mind, your thoughts, and your heart overflows so freely. Therefore, we need more silence to allow our own thoughts to shape our direction and impact our action. This year, don’t be so afraid of the silence, instead embrace it!

Tip #3 – More SPONTANEITY.

The third tip for inspiration for the new year is to live a life full of more spontaneity. How many of us are planners? How many of us plan out our week in detail and if someone or something suggests that we do otherwise, we freak. And we don’t react well, because that wasn’t in the book. Well, let this be the year with abundant freedom to live more spontaneous. Equipped in freedom to go on a day adventure with the family.

The freedom to not worry or fret about what should be getting done. Instead, to live in and enjoy the moment, all the moments. Because that is what life is and all about. Living and truly treasuring all of the many moments. And I want those moments to fill me with the most amounts of joy and peace possible. And sometimes that joy and that peace can be found in the spontaneity. Therefore, fill more of your moments this year with spontaneity!

Tip #4 – More BOOKS.

Next on the list full of inspiration for the new year is to include more books in your life in the next year. I find myself so many times, closing my eyes and visioning how I want to spend my day. And in those closed-eye visions, I almost always envision a park or hammock, or front porch, with a book in hand. But then life happens. And I remember the to-do list and I turn back to the many different tasks at hand, forgetting the real call of my heart.

So what if this year, we picked up the books more. What if we spent more time lost in the imagination of a fantasy or a romance, or a self-help guide or non-fiction recount of the past. Whatever genre you love the most, what if we chose the peace and tranquility that comes when we shut everything else off and just read. Therefore, this year, make this the year where you finally reach your books to be read goal and enjoy the art of getting lost in a really good book.

Looking for good books to read this year? Sharing inspirational and motivational books to put on your reading list for the new year!

Inspiration for the New Year Tip #5 – More FITNESS.

Next for inspiration for the new year is all about incorporating more fitness! Let me be really real for a moment. We usually feel our best of selves when we are physically fit. Now, I am not talking about the perfect beach bod, I am simply talking about feeling strong & feeling like we are in shape. Regardless if that “shape” fits your physical body description or not. We feel are best when we are making fitness a priority.

So I challenge you this year, to place a priority on your fitness. Now, please don’t make an ambitious goal that you know will be a difficult challenge to meet. Instead, focus on small goals and small gains. Start out with adding a walk or two with your family, or finding a new fitness app or work-out studio that meets your comfort zone. But I can assure you, that by putting your fitness first this year, you will most definitely find yourself in a place where you can be proud of. And that is absolutely worth it. Therefore, be inspired this year to make fitness a priority.

Tip #6 – More WRITING.

The next tip for inspiration in the new year is to incorporate more writing. Now, before you automatically think “I am not a blogger or a writer, so why should I even write.” You most definitely should consider adding more writing in your life. Something truly amazing happens when you take pen to paper and even more amazing things happen when you forget about the expectation and just let the writing happen.

And who knows, you may find that you actually love writing and you will most definitely be a fan of the release (both mental & emotional) that writing can provide. Pick up a journal and some new favorite pens (linking a few of my absolute favorites below) and start your thought-journaling today. Trust me – you are most definitely going to love this one.

Tip #7 – More VISION-CASTING.

Another really powerful thing to incorporate as inspiration for the new year is vision-casting. Vision is the ability to think or plan about the future with imagination and wisdom. Oh, I just love this. The ability to think (or plan) about the future with imagination and wisdom. I seriously LOVE the way it sounds. Take a minute and close your eyes.

• What do you envision for yourself this year?
• What do you envision for your family this year? Your relationships? What about your career? The passions you have?
• Where do you want your heart to be at by the end of this year?

Take moments, specifically, plan out specific times each month where you are going to set aside a specific vision of who you want to be, and envision yourself there. Visualize you getting to where you want, what you hope & desire to achieve. And the more you visualize and the more you create this vision, the more chance you have of getting there. This is an incredibly powerful way to live your life this year!

Inspiration for the New Year Tip #8 – More RELATIONSHIPS.

Another powerful source of inspiration for the new year is to focus on your relationships. It can be easy to get caught up in “doing you” and committing all of your time and attention to that process. But, to be honest, who would we all be without our people. Our people help define us and bring out our try self. So make sure you are making a point to cultivate those relationships that bring you joy. And key word of importance here is “those that bring you joy” because some relationships don’t bring joy and those are the relationships that we need to run {fast} from.

But for all those heart-warming, life-giving, laughter-abounding relationships, hold on to them. Pursue them. Allow them to give you life, and give them life in return. Focus more on THEM and less about YOU and I can assure you that you will reach a place of joy, peace, AND fulfillment.

Tip #9 – More SIMPLICITY.

Additionally, to serve as a source of inspiration for the new year, I encourage you to embrace more simplicity in your life. Who has been watching “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” Netflix series. I actually started to listen to the audio version of the book that has inspired the series a year ago. Now, I need to finish listening to it, but I absolutely LOVED what I had heard. And I think there is so much freedom to be found in pursuing a more simple life. A life lived slowly and confidently. A life lived in peace and simplicity. Whatever that looks like specifically for you and your heart, I think it is a great goal and mindset to have for the new year.

Tip #10 – More COMPASSION.

One of the most important things to consider in order to live your best life in the new year, is to focus on more compassion. Imagine a world lived where people were more concerned with others than with their selves. I mean that would be a place. And I would encourage you to start small, but definitely start somewhere and find ways to live a life with compassion in your heart. You never want to reach a point in your life where the pain and misfortunate of others has not effect or impact on you.

Therefore, have empathy. And live a life with deep care and compassion and love for the people around you. Even if you know them or not, extend compassion to those around you and you can be absolutely certain that your life will be better because of it. And it can be the simplest measure, but even the simple and smallest steps can lead to the most impactful direction.

Inspiration for the New Year Tip #11 – More LAUGHTER.

Number eleven on our list of inspiration for your best year yet is to incorporate more laughter in your life! I am talking about the fall on the floor, belly-laughing, ab-cramping laughter. The laughter that can take away stress and solve the world’s problems. Find time to have more laughter in your life. Rather that is just being silly, finding the freedom to be your true self, dance in the middle of a crowded store, or alone in your kitchen.

But do things that cultivate a lifestyle for laughter. Because laughter can truly provide a release from stress and a release from anxiety. And I fully believe that laughter can help usher us in to finding a new level and place of joy. So laugh more and often this year.

Tip #12 – More GRACE.

Finally, the last source of inspiration for the new year, live your life with more grace this year. Now, I wrote a much longer and more in-depth post on this earlier last year and you can find that here. But, I encourage you greatly to find a way to cultivate a life lived with more grace. A life lived more honestly and impact fully. A life lived with the freedom that you don’t need to strive and that you can just simply be.

A life lived where you fully understand and realize the significance of the fact that grace is not earned, nor deserved, it is freely given. And if you took this and applied it to every day life. If we lived our every single day with the intention and impact of grace. To freely give kindness and love, smiles and hope everywhere we go. Understanding the depths of knowing it does not have to be earned, yet giving freely regardless.

A Life Lived With Great Impact

What if we changed our thoughts and actions to be thoughts and actions of impact. An impact that is filled with the intention of making a positive difference in the lives of others. What if we exuded kindness and grace with every word, every step, and every action we took every day.

And if you have made it all the way through then you have realized that this is not your typical “New Year, New Me” resolution list. However, this list is most definitely a list that can bring you freedom, joy, and peace. And I think that those are all things that each of our own hearts, most definitely needs. Therefore, let this list of inspiration for the new year to truly inspire you and motivate you as you work to live your best life this year! Cheering you on friend, every single day!