I hope everyone had a fantastic New Year and that you have all recovered from the Festive period. I hope 2018 is a fantastic year for each and every one of you.
Whether you're looking to make a change in your life, start something, stop something or improve your lifestyle, for many, the turn of a new year is an opportunity to make that change in their life by setting a New Year's resolution. Whether you're going for 'new year, new you' or just aiming to achieve a goal, New Year can be a perfect time to get started and on the right track.
Readers and subscribers of Tuesday At 7 have been telling me what their New Year's Resolutions are when entering the recent Irn-Bru Extra Bluetooth Speaker competition.
I think the prize influenced a few of the votes as 1 reader vowed to drink more Irn-Bru while another vowed to drink less. Trying to curry favour was worth a shot, but it won't do you any good as all winners are chosen completely at random. Nice try though.
I might actually be joining the drink less Irn-Bru camp soon. With the impending sugar tax, Barr's have announced that they are going to change their recipe much to the anger of the Irn-Bru drinking public. If the new recipe isn't up to scratch, Irn-Bru could be off the menu for me.
There was a huge range of New Year's resolutions set by our readers from vowing to have more fun, be more happy and smile more, to stopping smoking, giving up drinking and stopping stressing. One reader vowed to achieve their goals - but the ones they set in 2016. Well, who says you have to achieve the resolution in the year you set them, as long as you achieve them, right?
We've compiled the list of all the New year's resolutions our readers have set for 2018 and we can now reveal what the 10 most popular New Year's resolutions are amongst Tuesday At 7 readers this year.
10. Be More Organised.
Coming in at number 10 on the list is be more organised. 3% of those who responded set this as their New Year's resolution, hoping to make 2018 a productive year.
I could definitely do with improving my organisation skills although, planning and preparing for baby Damon's arrival gave me plenty of good practice at being organised. Life has got a bit more chaotic since his arrival but once we get more settled with him in our lives we can try to get everything back into some sort of order.
9. Make the most of every moment.
Seize the day and get more out of life is the New Year's mantra set by 4% of our readers, making it number 9 on our list. We live in busy times. It sometimes feels like we just work, eat, sleep, repeat. It's important to live a little, which makes this the perfect New Year's resolution to help you get more out of life.
With Damon in our lives, every day is filled with new magical moments and experiences and I am definitely savouring every single one.
8. Be More confident.
As the great philosopher Gok Wan once said - 'it's all about the confidence' and for just over 4% of those who responded, this is an area of their lives they want to work on.
Confidence is key and can help you do more and challenge yourself (great for those who voted for number 9 as confidence can definitely help you get more out of life.) More confident, happier in themselves and more adventurous - good luck to all those hoping to be more confident this year, you can do it.
7. Do more with the family.
Family time is some of the most cherished time and for 5% of our respondents they feel they aren't getting enough of it, so resolving to spend more time with the family, and do more family activities is their important goal this year.
Beyond going out for walks and visiting the grandparents, family days out aren't too adventurous for us yet, but I look forward to more exciting activities as Damon grows and hopefully i'll be able to share many of our experiences here on the blog.
6. Spend less, save more.
You can't buy happiness and money is the root of all evil, but money makes the world go round and we could all use a little extra. For 6% of our readers, spending less and saving more is their number one objective for 2018.
Times are hard, prices are rising, the Brexit effect continues to take hold so it's no surprise that so many people see this as an important area to focus on. One reader vowed not to buy any clothes for 6 months. Another was looking to start a new business to generate more income. Whatever your reason, good luck with your savings. I'd love to hear some of your money saving tips to help me too.
For me, I was actually made redundant a few months ago. While this afforded me plenty of time to prepare for Damon's arrival and to enjoy his first moments, soon i'm going to have to focus a bit more strongly on my finances so i'll definitely be joining the spend less, save more group.
5. Lose some weight.
It's one of the archetypal New Year's resolutions, especially after the excess of the Festive period. 7% of those who responded would like to lose some weight this year. earning it number 5 on our countdown.
Whether it's a new fitness regime, healthy eating, the latest fad diet or a combination of all of the above, the responders weren't specific about 'how' they will go about losing weight, they just set the goal that they would like to lose some in 2018. It takes dedication and motivation so good luck to everyone with weight goals to achieve this year.
4. Walk more.
Coming in at number 4 on our list is walk more, with 8% of readers setting this as their goal for 2018.
For these readers, it wasn't so much a desire to be more fit and active, but rather a desire to get out, get some fresh air and also use the car less. A useful second resolution for the spend less, save money group as the cost of driving seems to be ever increasing. Also a great resolution for the environmentally conscious amongst us who want to lower their carbon footprint.
This is one area that we're definitely seeing an increase since Damon arrives. He loves getting put in his pram to go out for a walk. Heavy snow has made it a little tricky for us this week, but hopefully it clears soon and we can continue going off on our adventures.
3. Nothing.
Ok, i'll admit, number 3 isn't really a resolution, but 9% of our readers were pretty resolute when they resolved not to set a New Year's resolution at all.
Some said they are a waste of time. Others feel you don't need New Year to set a goal or make a change. For more, they didn't trust that they would stick to them and think they'd give up quickly and break their resolution if they did set one. Well, you can't break what you don't make.
2. Eat more healthily.
While those who resolved to lose some weight in 2018 would also fit into this category, 13% of our readers set the specific goal to eat (and drink) more healthily this year earning it number 2 on our list.
There's a lot of focus on sugar as one of the biggest eating evils these days, and that was a factor for some of our responders. Some wanted to cut down on the sugary snacks, 1 wanted to stop buying all the delicious cream cakes that they see everywhere while some wanted to cut down on the fizzy drinks, probably wise with the impending sugar tax as those fizzy drinks are going to get quite a bit more expensive. Drinking more water featured regularly in the comments as a healthier alternative
One reader was being realistic with this goal. They vowed to start eating more healthily, but only after all the Christmas leftovers have been polished off. Sounds like a good idea. The likelihood of breaking your resolution would probably increase significantly with all those temptations still in your cupboard.
1. Be more active.
And finally, we've reached number 1 on our list. The most common New Year's resolution set by our readers this year is to get fit, exercise more and be more active. 20% of our readers chose this as their resolution for 2018 earning it top spot on our list.
An evening jog, cycle more, swim more or do yoga, our readers had plenty of suggestions on how they are going to go about their new fitness regime. Whether it's going to the gym, or doing it at home, it's definitely a tough resolution to stick to but a lot of our readers think they have the motivation and determination to achieve it this year.
Whatever your resolution, whether you set one or not, I hope you all have an amazing, productive 2018 and achieve everything you are looking to get out of life this year.
It's going to be a big year for us as our little family spend our first year together. I look forward to all the exciting, and challenging moments during Damon's first year and I look forward to sharing them with all of you.
Have a great 2018 everyone.
