Does it ever feel to you like more of the same with the holidays?
The obligations to celebrate certain traditions? The making of New Year’s resolutions even though you know you won’t keep up with them? The eating of certain foods even though you don’t want them? Seeing the same old things in the store windows and in your ad feed…exercise equipment, healthy eating stuff, financial stuff?
It’s all so….yah…we know…the same. Honestly, it’s so predictable it’s boring.
Let’s buck the system!
What if we find ways to bless others when the New Year comes? Find ways to invigorate our family (whatever that looks like)? Make exciting plans for the future, not obligations? Find ways to serve others instead of ourselves? Let’s hunt for, find, dust off, and put on those perspective glasses we are so often talking about!
Today we are sharing with you some of our favorite non-traditional ways to celebrate the New Year!
8 Favorite New Years Celebration Ideas
1. Wake up early New Years Day to go see a sunrise.
Instead of sleeping in and starting the first day of a brand new year being late and waking up when everyone else does, try this for a change of pace!
What a great way to start a brand new year.
Wake up when no one else is awake, grab some breakfast (either packed at home or on the go), grab the family, and head to the nearest spot to watch the sunrise on the very first day of the year! Whether that is your patio, porch, local coffee shop, or park, get going….you won’t be sorry you did this one! A little side note is to check the weather first and what time the sun will rise so you can plan accordingly.
2. Plan on buying someone else’s meal that day.
Instead of prepping some super huge meal for your family or get together that day, buy someone else a meal that day. Whether that is in the drive-through, or in a restaurant, or by taking someone a meal, plan on focusing on blessing someone else today. There is something about serving others that just puts your mind and heart and perspective in the right place. It is also a good witness of perspective to whomever you are with this day. It can be a definite ripple effect.
3. Get together a crazy big donation!
Instead of thinking of what else we can buy that day to help our own life, let’s look at all the many blessings we have around our place and get together all that we can for a big donation!
Think REALLY BIG! Clothes, toys, furniture, home decor, office supplies, shoes, tools, etc. Anything that you haven’t used in the last 6 months and won’t use, why not unclutter your own space as you bless someone really in need?!
The best place to donate to and that really puts the donation where they say it will go is to the Salvation Army. However, there are so many more places as well. If you have a local homeless shelter that takes donations, that is wonderful. Sometimes there are specific clothes closets for the homeless that are looking for jobs and that is also a great fit. Check this out for more on the best places to donate for what you are donating!
Be crazy generous this new year!!! Go BIG! Watch what happens to your heart and your smile!
4. Get outside and MOVE!
Instead of lazing around the house, get outside and move! No matter what it may look like: staying outside where you went for your sunrise viewing and going for a walk on the beach, playing in the park, hiking the trails, or another gazillion options, just MOVE!
There are lots of fun one mile or 5k runs New Years Day all around the country. Those are fun! You could even do a polar bear dip, whether at the beach, a lake, or a pool! Even going for a walk around your neighborhood with your pet or by yourself counts, but just move!
It’s not enough to be outside, even though that is a wonderful thing…we should MOVE simply because for now, we are able to move. If all you can do is move your neck up and down like my Mom could for the last 10 years of her life, then do that! It is a celebration of what you can do! Move out of gratitude that God allows it for this moment and as a way to thank Him for that wondrousness!
5. Smile at everyone you see that day.
Instead of groggy from the night before grumpy, smile at everyone today, but most importantly, MEAN IT!
There is something about smiling at first that will make you feel a little goofy and like everyone is aware of what you are doing. Who cares? Just smile. All of a sudden, the world feels a little lighter. All of a sudden, your heart follows suit and feels hopeful. All of the sudden, you may notice others smiling back at you.
If they don’t smile back at you and look at you weird, well, then you can just smile a little bigger inside knowing you have a secret…that smiles can change your perspective. Smile even if no one else is…watch the ripple effect happen!
6. Do something new today.
Instead of doing what the world expects like buying a treadmill or redoing your finances, buck the system and do something new today!
It doesn’t need or have to be big at all. Just try something new!
Have you not tried riding a bike in years? Go try it. It’s ok if you wobble and fall, just get back up again and try. Go for a hike. Take some pictures from a different point of view. Try that new food your friend has been begging you to try. Write down (or type) bullet point notes of everything you did today. Clean up after yourself as you go.
Whatever it is that isn’t typically you, just go for it and try something new today. Be brave. It won’t kill you. It just may make you stronger and you just may see a new side to life and it just may change your perspective.
7. Go watch the sunset.
Instead of crashing early due to being up super late last night, weather permitting, don’t miss the sunset on the first day of the year.
I realize there are people out there who can’t even get outside. Even if it is from a hospital room and you have to open the blinds or roll someone outside if you can, try to find a way to see the sunset, but if all else fails, how about finding someone you can ask to facetime you from where you are watching the sunset. Or, if you know of someone in a hospital bed during the holidays (as I do as of this writing have a dear friend who has been there for a month and will be there another month due to brain surgery), offer to call them from where you are watching the sunset and share that with them.
Enjoy the beauty that is God’s handiwork in the sky and marvel in the fact that the same God who is painting the sky this night loved you enough to create you, amongst all the people in the world, and sent His only son to be sacrificed in your place. He placed the sun in the sky to guide you during the day and the moon at night. Revel in the fact that He designed each day with a different sunset just as He also designed each person vastly different for so many reasons.
8. Be in the moment.
Instead of worrying about checking the box on everything you are “supposed” to be doing today, just be in the moment today.
This one can be a tricky one, especially during the holiday season. Don’t think about all you are supposed to do today, just be right where you are with whomever you are with and smile from a place of gratitude that you and I get to breathe and be alive and be here in this moment right now.
Thank God for His goodness to give us another year to hopefully serve and honor Him in everything we do. Even though we will fail, He loves us enough to give us another day as a demonstration of how very much He loves us.
Comment below with how your family enjoys “bucking the system” for New Years and how you enjoy celebrating the beginning of a brand new year!
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