2018 is here to stay… At least for the next twelve months! Now is your chance to try something new.

In our last post, we touched on five ideas to help you start your new year strong. Here are three thoughts on things you could try, perhaps for the first time, that we know can revolutionize your 2018.

• Try a new food each week. Since we’re on the subject of trying new things, we will stress again the importance of eating at least five live foods a day. It’s not that difficult. And, you don’t have to go completely cold turkey and quit all of your other favorite foods. Rather than just cutting out everything, choose to add new raw, whole, living foods to your diet, slowly replacing the old ones. Try hitting the fruit and veggie aisle first to sample some exotic fruit and vegetables you may have yet to try, such as dragon fruit, lychees, and romanescu. You’ll be eating intentionally before you know it.

• Try helping others. There’s nothing wrong with self-improvement. However, it seems that most of us get inwardly focused when thinking about our new year and what it holds for us, but what can we do to help others start their year off with a smile? Plan to do something nice for someone every day. It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture. It doesn’t even really have to be planned. Just look for opportunities to make someone’s day brighter. Sincere compliments, helping to lighten someone’s load, feeding the hungry, lending a listening ear, a hug, and hand, a heartfelt card on a random day… all are acts of kindness that will not go unnoticed or forgotten, especially when it comes at just the right moment. Make a point to breathe life into the world around you.

• Try at least one new thing every day. Don’t start your year out in a rut. It’s easy to let routine and habit turn your day… month… year into the mundane. This year, make it a point to do something out of the ”norm” every day, or at the very least, every week. Pick up a new hobby. Learn to play the instrument you’ve always wanted to play. Don’t know how? Check youtube! There are literally thousands of “how to” videos covering everything from painting to music to auto-mechanical work! Take time in your day to try something out of the ordinary. Be intentional about not postponing your joy for “one day”. One day is now. It started at midnight. It will start again at midnight. And the midnight after that.

If your 2017 was something you’d like to forget, remember that new beginnings are sometimes birthed out of painful endings. Celebrate the newness set before you. We all have an empty canvas in front of us. We all have beauty waiting to be splashed across our lives. Try something new.

Being intentional about the way you start your new year is a key factor in how you will end it. Begin with the end in mind! Don’t let life “happen” to you. Go get it!