15 Self-Care New Year’s Resolutions For Trauma Healing Journeys

As we enter a new year, you may be bombarded with everyone’s New Year’s resolutions. If you’re on a healing journey, your resolution doesn’t need to be an exhausting chore, but a way to prioritize yourself and your healing. I welcome to join me in this post to explore fifteen resolutions for healing journeys.

Self-Care New Year’s Resolution Tips

I welcome you to take all the time you need incorporating a new resolution into your care plan. These tips are reminders that your healing is yours, and your resolutions are yours. Take all the time you need (even if that means skipping this year’s resolution.)

9 Tips For Choosing a New Year’s Resolution

• Choose a new habit that feels doable for more than a few weeks
• Schedule time for your new habit (this makes it easier to stick to long term)
• You don’t need to do it perfectly from day one
• Skip as many days as you choose
• You can switch your resolution if you feel another would be more suitable
• Focus on your resolution, goals, and progress. It may be tempting to compare yourself to other people’s resolutions, but we’re all at different points in our lives with different goals.
• You don’t need to announce your resolution for it to still be meaningful. And you don’t need to tell people your resolution if you don’t want to.
• You don’t need to have a resolution. You can always skip this year and try again next year if you choose.
• Your resolution doesn’t always need to have a specific end result. Maybe you just want to have an extra 20 minutes before bed to read a book.

15 Self-Care New Year’s Resolutions

New Year’s resolutions for healing journeys may look different from your typical resolution. Many New Year’s resolutions involve doing more, being more, just…more. If you’re on a trauma healing journey, this may be too much to even consider (and that’s okay). 

While you are in control of your resolution and what it means to you, these are simple and focus more on self-care and love than meeting a specific goal (like physical goals, work, or other goals that require a hustle mentality). 

Sometimes, just allowing yourself more rest is a perfect resolution for healing. 

I welcome you to use these as inspiration and know these are not a replacement for medical or professional services. I invite you to explore support options to add to your overall healing care plan. 

15 Self-Care New Year’s Resolution Ideas:

1. Include more time for rest during the week. If this is accessible to you, I welcome you to schedule a time where you don’t need to be productive. It could be as simple as an extra five minutes of breathwork in your car before going into work. Everything counts. Here are three breathwork exercises to release anger to get you started.
2. Explore a new holistic healing avenue. Maybe you try new healing avenues that appeal to you. A few holistic options include: acupuncture, massage, and trauma-informed yoga.
3. If accessible, explore professional support options to deepen your healing. Only if you feel ready to. You never need to rush your healing just because it’s the start of a new year. Your timeline is the best timeline.
4. Focus on healthy boundary setting. Healthy boundaries allow you to voice what is and what isn’t acceptable to your healing. This is one of the most important pieces of self-care. You can read books, work with life coaches, explore yoga themed around this topic, whatever speaks to you.
5. Create a list of hobbies that make you feel wholesome. Is it cooking? Playing an instrument? Reading? I invite you to schedule time each week to do more of what fills your cup. 
6. Begin a journaling habit. If journaling interests you, I welcome you to journal as a healthy outlet on your healing journey. This blog post gives you 15 journal prompts to release anger before your trauma-informed yoga practice. You’re welcome to journal to your comfort level, for as long as you choose, and if it works for you. 
7. Focus on a basic self-care habit you wish to grow stronger. This may seem simple, but so often in healing journeys you may start to slowly skip out on self-care habits that are essential for your well being. Maybe you stopped flossing your teeth, keeping your environment clean, or stopped doing a skin care routine you used to love. I welcome you to start here if nothing else speaks to you. Your general health and wellness are important and you deserve to live in a healthy space and body. 
8. Pencil in time to call family or a friend on a weekly basis. Speaking with loved ones always leaves me feeling grounded and supported. I welcome you to call anyone who makes you feeling better after speaking with them.
9. Create a self-care Sunday. If you find it hard to keep up on all your chores throughout the week, a self-care day once a week might be a better option. I welcome you to create your perfect self-care Sunday routine by reading this blog post.
10. Consider removing an unhealthy habit and replacing it with a healthier option. You may wish to speak with your support team to identify where you might need to make a swap, but you could also start small. Maybe you could read a book before bed instead of scrolling on your phone as a start.
11. Include more gentle movement. You don’t need to go all out and start running an hour a day to give yourself the gift of movement. A walk or gentle yoga is enough, especially if you’re exhausted from your healing journey.
12. Invite more compassion into your daily life. Maybe you surround yourself with inspirational words, write a kind letter to your future self, write quotes in your space to remind you of your strength. This isn’t about masking your feelings with toxic positivity, but to give yourself gentle reminders that the work you are doing is difficult, but you are worth it. I welcome you to read these ten quotes that supported my first year of trauma healing for inspiration.
13. Plan a future self-care day for yourself. Maybe you make a monthly appointment to get your nails done, attend a yoga class, or learn a new skill like cooking classes. You’ll have something to look forward to each month, and be reminded how you scheduled this time for you. You and your self-care matters. 
14. Add more mindfulness to your nighttime routine. This blog post gives you a nighttime mindfulness routine to prep you for deep sleep! 
15. Join a supportive online community that speaks to you. I welcome you to explore online for supportive groups that inspire and motivate you on your healing journey. These could be support groups, Facebook groups, or anything that feels right for you. The best part about online is you don’t need to take part. Maybe just knowing that someone else is going through something similar to what you are is enough.

Overview

These 15 self-care New Year’s resolution ideas are for you to explore, gain inspiration from, or use to create your own. I invite you to remember you don’t need a resolution just because it’s the start of a new year. Your healing is unique to you, so if you’d rather revisit this list throughout the year, you’re more than welcome to. Take care.