The first few days of working on a New Year’s resolution are usually pretty great. You jump out of bed with a go-get-’em attitude, filled with the best intentions to achieve whatever goal you’ve set for yourself. You mentally chart your progress, silently (or perhaps loudly) congratulating yourself on the strides you’ve made just a few days into the year. You close your eyes and wistfully imagine yourself three, six, and 12 months down the road, fully accomplished and beaming with pride at how successful you are at making — and keeping — New Year’s resolutions. It’s a nice picture, right?
Then, January 7 hits, and all bets are off. Even with your best intentions, you struggle to greet the day with the same rosy attitude you enjoyed in that first week of the year. It becomes harder to see the progress you’re making from one day to the next, and you’re suddenly less motivated to keep at it. We’ve all been there, and it’s this all-too-familiar set of circumstances that keeps so many of us from setting resolutions in the first place.
There’s one surefire way to combat these New Year’s frustrations, though, and that’s to team up. Why not loop your partner in on your journey to self-improvement? Committing to work on a resolution with your significant other will keep you accountable, and it will also give you an easy-to-find understanding ear if (when!) your resolve has you feeling drained. Check out these 11 resolutions to work on with your S.O. in 2018.
1. Up your wellness game. No one wants to be the only person jumping out of bed at 6am for an early morning workout, or the only one eating a kale salad when there’s pasta on the menu. Partnering up with your S.O. in pursuit of your health and fitness goals this year is bound to make it easier for both you to be successful.
2. Read more. A mini-book club between you and your partner might be just the thing to encourage a reading habit in the new year. Take turns choosing a book to read, then set aside time after work and on the weekends to turn off the TV and read together. Once a month, set aside a date night to enjoy good food and a conversation about the book.
3. Spend more time with family. Look at the collective calendar and mark off days to spend with your family (and your partner’s) on a regular basis. When this becomes an automatic part of your shared scheduling process, you’ll find that family time will naturally work its way into your year.
4. Stay more informed about current events. Split the cost of a newspaper subscription, or choose a news show or podcast that you can both look forward to watching on a weekly basis. You don’t have to become totally current-event obsessed, but developing a mutual understanding of what’s happening in the world will make you feel more confident in newsy conversations and will prompt interesting one-on-one convos between you and bae.
5. Save money. If you and your S.O. share finances, this should be a no-brainer, but you can work on this together even if you have yet to take this big step, simply by serving as accountability partners. Share your individual savings goals with each other, then drop gentle (or not-so-gentle) reminders when it’s time to move the cash.
6. Learn something new. Sign up for an online course together or check out a couples’ cooking class. You’ll be less likely to bail if you’re not in it alone.
7. Be more spontaneous. It’s a little weird and contradictory to plan to be more spontaneous, but you and your sweetie can work on being a little less plan-driven by pushing each other out of your respective comfort zones and encouraging the occasional shake-up to your joint routine. Surprise your S.O. with a random weeknight date, or suggest an impromptu get-together with friends on an otherwise gloomy weekend.
8. Give back. Work together to choose a cause that means something to both of you. Love animals? Pool your funds for a donation to the ASPCA. Have a shared heart for children? Find a local organization that offers opportunities for community service at a children’s hospital or after school program.
9. Travel more. If you feel like you and bae don’t make it a priority to get out of town, get a trip on the calendar now (we mean, like, right now). Travel doesn’t need to be expensive, either. Research day trips or destinations that you can reach with just a few hours in the car. It’s the simple act of prioritizing the travel that will make all the difference.
10. Disconnect from screens. Set boundaries for phones and tablets within your relationship. Leave your devices at home for date night, or commit to charging them outside the bedroom so you’re not scrolling through your individual Instagram feeds while you’re falling asleep or first thing in the morning.
11. Get more sleep. Once upon a time, you had your parents there to enforce bedtimes. Why not give that job to your significant other in 2018?
Have you ever taken on a New Year’s resolution with your partner? Tweet us @BritandCo!
(Photo via Getty)