Stuck for a New Year’s Resolution or two? Instead of defaulting to the usual yearly resolutions, Nourish Founder – Linda Keane, came up with 5 that will change your life for the better, help others and our precious planet.

1. Let’s Get Real

As a species, humans have survived and prospered partly due to living in groups, working together and forming emotional connections with others. Somehow, in the last decade, technology rather than bringing us together, has led to us feeling more isolated.

In a sea of likes and an ocean of followers, we’ve traded the quality of our connections for the quantity. Just like exercising daily, why not talk to a random stranger, or even just give a smile or a cheery hello. Loneliness is one of the biggest factors with mental health issues.

We are voting to get back to the original version of face time and actually talk to people in person. Better still, put down the phone and look them in the eye. It’s amazing how giving the gift of 100% of your attention will improve your relationships and bring you the gift we all truly desire- the joy of connection!

2. Let’s learn something new everyday

Australia, the land of opportunity continues to give us the chance to broaden our horizons and perspectives. The beauty of living in a democracy and a multi-cultural society is, we can share a smorgasbord of different experiences all in the comfort of our own country. How truly lucky are we? Different cultures, different religions, different politics, different hobbies, different lifestyles – the list goes on.

Learn and explore and ask questions when your opinion or understanding of an issue doesn’t match that of others. Educate yourself on things you may not understand and look at things from another’s viewpoint. We can always learn more.

At best you may find a new friend, a new attitude and a greater understanding of the world we live in. At worst, you will have given another human being the gift of being listened to, which you must admit, can’t hurt.

“Whether you believe in climate change or not, our planet has finite resources and we need to be more mindful” – Linda Keane

3. let’s waste not

Whether you believe in climate change or not, our planet has finite resources and we need to be more mindful about using what is precious with little regard to the effect it has on the planet and the generations that will follow us. Our focus needs to be on what is abundant and able to be replenished or self-sustaining.

Water, food and electricity supply are shaping up to be game changers for our future generations. Don’t leave them a barren planet. Let’s be more thoughtful about what we use everyday and try to reduce waste. We throw out so much food, rubbish, and packaging. Eliminate what you can by recycling or reusing. You already know what to do. Turn off the light, fix that leaky tap…

4. let’s want not

If there is anything the previous decade brought to our attention is our OVER THE TOP level of consumption. Mountains of waste, food, clothing, plastics, cars, batteries, white goods, and rubbish are drowning our planet. Rather than reliving the decades of excess in the 1920’s & the 1980’s, lets act as if we were in the Great Depression of a century ago.

This decade lets commit to reducing our consumption of things. We have become accustomed to replacing regularly things we don’t need, things that could be repaired, things are not even worn out , things that don’t look new, things we don’t need, things that are no longer fashionable.

It is time to say STOP! Let’s make a genuine effort to REUSE what you can and RECYCLE what you can. Say NO to plastic and if you are really brave, that might even mean cutting up the credit card. Spending cash makes us all a little bit more mindful about our excess consumption.

5. let’s be kind

The impact of kindness to others is under-rated. You can make someone’s day (and pay it forward – BONUS!) with a small act of kindness. The stress and pace of modern-day living is contributing to a mental health crisis. We struggle to cope with expectations placed on us by friends, family, workplaces.

Sometimes life is just hard, and your harshest critic is yourself. We are so quick to offer sympathy and support for friends who are having doubts and going through tough times. Why do we judge ourselves so severely? It’s time to draw a line in the sand and FORGIVE ourselves for any real or imagined inadequacies.

Let this decade be one to really let this thought go. We all make mistakes, get knocked down, but the trick is to pick yourself up and keep trying to be our best. Time to move on……a new decade beckons.