Many New Year resolutions were probably scuppered by lockdown this year, but to be honest, despite being the first month of the year January is the hardest month to change our behaviour!

For many it’s too cold and dark to start a new fitness routine, and why would we want to stop drinking hot chocolate and eating comforting wintry food when there are few other joys to be had in January!

Now this Spring on the other hand, coming out of a long winter lockdown, seems like a perfect opportunity for new beginnings and resolutions. The warmer outdoors becomes more available to us, the longer days give us more daytime hours to do things, and the extra light shining in our eyes literally keeps us feeling awake for longer.

The beginning of the lifting of restrictions and the vaccine roll out means it’s a good time to make some resolutions for the rest of this year. For example, spring-clean your habits, keep hold of the good things that you have discovered or re-discovered these last many months, and think about what you would like your life to look like moving forward.

Turn healthy routines from lockdown into habits for life

A habit is automatic and doesn’t need much effort because there are subconscious urges at play, driving us to behave in order to get rewarded. On the other hand, new routines are conscious and take effort and we have been creating those during lockdown. To turn them into healthy long-lasting habits we have to become more self-aware. Here are some ways to do so.

Identify what you have enjoyed doing through lockdown and set an intention to continue. Say this intention to yourself out loud and write it down to fix it as a goal in your mind. Specify what the benefit is to you and what value it represents.

Manage your time so that you can continue fitting in your chosen activities. Protect the extra time that you gained during lockdown by allocating time slots in your diary to do the activity.

Neurons that fire together, wire together, meaning when you practice something regularly, your brain sets down a neuronal pattern and path which becomes more fixed the more it is used; a bit like trampling down an overgrown country path that becomes clearer and quicker to walk the more you go down it. This is how we learn and how behaviours become more automatic.

Another amazing brain fact is that your brain will also create neural connections just by imagining the activity!

Here are a few suggestions for healthy ways to continue good habits post-lockdown:

Cooking more at home. Backed up by research, this is a more cost-effective and healthier habit as people are able to choose a good range of nutritious and wholesome ingredients as well as controlling portion sizes.

Exercise. Perhaps you started a more regular regime of walking, cycling or running in nature, or high-intensity workouts with Joe Wicks or in the garden. Whatever it was, keep exercise regular as it has heaps of physical and mental benefits.

Hobbies and skills. Whether this was music, art, crafting, singing, gardening, mechanics or painting, actively engaging in an activity we value provides us with the essential and rewarding recipe mix of enjoyment and achievement. This naturally raises intrinsic motivation so that we want to keep doing it.

Fixing the finances. Overall there has been a release of the pressure to spend. Various surveys have found we have saved on fuel, pub and restaurant food and drink, high street shopping, holidays and travelling. The environmental bonus has not been missed either, with some people thinking they won’t return to flying. Pause and look again at what and where we choose to spend our money.

Keep kindness going. A major rallying point of the pandemic has been the offers of kind deeds and protecting the vulnerable. Keep these connections as part of your routine by putting reminders on your calendar to continue to check in on those who may need a boost.

Mindfulness. The lockdown has taught many people that slowing down and living in the present is a valuable tool for mental health and wellbeing. If you started a mindfulness practice of any sort, continuing with this would bring a great mental fitness bonus to your life, with many other physical health benefits from slowing down and breathing well.

Gratitude. With so much taken away from us, we have all had to find even the smallest things to be grateful for (even if it was toilet roll!), and this practice raises our mood. Talking with neighbours, socialising with friends and families and the return of physical contact will make a difference. A warm hand, a hug, a gentle touch and seeing a smile on someone’s face, without a mask, will be a joy. Reconnect with all that you have missed and never take it for granted again.

Self-care. Maintaining a practice of self-care when life returns to full force might be a challenge because it’s easy to let other demands take over. Remember that you have to “put your own oxygen mask on first” and take care of yourself so that you can take care of others.