20 Quotes That Make Meaningful New Year’s Resolutions

With how quickly this year is just ticking right on by, it’ll be time to make New Year’s resolutions again before you know it! If you need a little inspiration to come up with something a bit deeper than “lose weight” or “make more money,” these amazing inspirational quotes below will help you make more meaningful goals. Let’s take a look!

Inspirational Quotes That Will Motivate You to Make More Meaningful New Year’s Resolutions

Look, I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with the tried and true goals. Losing weight, eating better, and other health-conscious resolutions are all these are things we should be doing anyway, though.

We shouldn’t wait until January 1st to decide to stop eating processed food or to ditch soda and drink more water. I’d rather use the fresh start that each New Year’s Day brings by really reflecting on the past 12 months and asking myself what more I could be doing to be a better person all around.

Since I often find so much inspiration in quotes, this year, I’ll use some of my favorites to help me come up with some new ideas to motivate more meaningful change. Take a look at what I’ve come up with so far. They’re not in any specific order.

1. Stop bottling things up and be more honest about your feelings.

If you’re one to bottle up your emotions to try to keep the peace between your friends or family, make this the year that you stop doing that. Be honest about how you feel. Speak your mind.  If you lose friends because of it, they weren’t really friends at all.

2. Don’t let others tell your story for you

Along with being more honest, be the author of your own life. Don’t ever let anyone steal your pen and tell your story for you. Don’t just tell the happy stories, tell the WHOLE story. The sad parts, the hard parts, the utterly terrifying parts. You’ll feel so much better once you let it all out.

3. Dance like no one is watching (stop being so self-conscious)

We’re all a bit self-conscious at times! Let’s resolve to dance like no one is watching, both metaphorically and literally! Sing your heart out. Live life to the fullest. Don’t ever hold back because you’re scared of what others might think. Just be yourself more often.

4. Be okay with imperfection

This one goes along well with the last one. Dance even if you have two left feet. Sing out of tune. Most important of all, stop demanding perfection from yourself. Embrace your quirks and proudly flaunt them for all the world to see.

5. Have the courage to continue following your dreams

We’ve talked about how you need to have the courage to take the first step to follow your dreams. That first step is one of the hardest, but it takes just as much courage to get back up and step back on the path after a failure.

6. Find peace in being alone

As I’ve said many times before, if you learn to like being alone you’ll never be lonely again. Resolve to spend a bit more time on your own. Take yourself to dinner and a movie (two of the hardest things for us to do alone) once a month.

Go on a solo vacation. Even just spending one hour alone a week can help you rediscover yourself and learn to enjoy your own company.

7. Step outside your comfort zone

“Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.”- Brian Tracy

Resolve to do one thing next year that completely freaks you out. Something that’s so far outside of your comfort zone that you get goosebumps just thinking about it. It doesn’t have to be anything dangerous.

I’m not advocating bungee jumping or anything here.  (Well, unless you actually want to do that!). Ask yourself, “What would I do if fear wasn’t holding me back?” Then do it!

7. Stop living in the past

Stop dwelling on what was and start focusing on what is and what could be. We spend so much time in the past that we’re blind to all of the wonders of the present.

8. Look at the world with amazement

“Anyone can buy a car or a night on the town. Most of us shell our days like peanuts. One in a thousand can look at the world with amazement. I don’t mean gawking at the Chrysler Building. I’m talking about the wing of a dragonfly. The tale of the shoeshine. Walking through an unsullied hour with an unsullied heart.” ― Amor Towles

The world is full of grand buildings, monuments, and even grand gestures. But if you spend all of your time looking up at these things, you’ll miss the beauty that’s right in front of you.

Learn to look at the world with amazement, because even something as tiny as a dragonfly wing is pretty extraordinary.

9. Stop trying to buy joy

Short, simple, and to the point. If you want to really find joy in this life, you need to spend more time, not more money. Money can buy you a lot of things. And yes, sometimes it can buy fleeting happiness. But it can’t buy pure and true joy. For example, money can buy you a vacation, but it’s the time spent with family that makes said vacation truly enjoyable.

10. Laugh every single day

There are SO many studies out there proving that laughter really is the best medicine. It’s good for your heart, your mind, and just your overall health in general. So, resolve to find something to laugh about every single day.

11. Look for the positive

Along with finding something to laugh about, resolve to look for something positive each and every day. I know that some days it may be pretty darn hard to find a “silver lining.” But if you look, you’re sure to find at least one good thing around you. A perfect sunset after a rotten day, a beautiful bird singing a happy song as you walk to your car, a really gorgeous flower in a crack in the sidewalk…there is beauty all around us. You just have to be open to finding it.

12. Be proud of yourself

If you spend your life trying to make others proud, you’ll feel like you’re never good enough. Just do your best for YOU and be proud of yourself.

13. Cut toxic people from your life

That’s a long quote, I know, but it’s such great advice! One of the very best things you can do for your mental health is to cut toxic people from your life. Trust me, you’ll feel like such a weight has been lifted off of you.

14. Work on your communication skills

I really think better communication skills would solve half of the world’s problems. So, whether it’s communicating your wants and needs or just doing a better job of telling people what’s going on in your life, make this the year you speak up!

15. Go out into the world each day with kindness in your heart

Wake up each morning and decide to go forth with kindness in your heart. Be kind even to people who you feel really don’t deserve it. In fact, be kind ESPECIALLY to people who you think don’t deserve it.

16. Learn something new every day & master one new skill each year

This is one of my favorite New Year’s Resolutions because it’s actually a really fun one! First, resolve to learn something new every single day. Even if it’s just a new word or a fun fact, it counts. Second, resolve to master one new skill this year. Anything goes! Mastering a new skill actually changes your brain and creates new neural pathways in your brain.

17. Count your life by what REALLY counts, not by years

Stop worrying about how many candles are on your birthday cake. Instead, resolve to count your life by what TRULY counts: the memories you make with friends and family.

18. Be the type of person who builds others up instead of breaking them down

In a time where so many people focus on how they can knock someone else down, be the type of person who actively tries to build others up.

19. Step through the door and start your new life

Make a New Year’s Resolution to live each day as if it’s a whole new chapter in your life because it really is!

20. Wake up every morning and choose to live

Today I choose life. Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain… To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices – today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it. -Kevyn Aucoin

Perhaps the most important New Year’s resolution of all, choose to live. Be grateful for the opportunity to wake up each day and make new mistakes. Choose to make each day an adventure, a journey, an opportunity.

Choose to live, even when it hurts. Choose to really feel every emotion, to laugh, to cry, to scream if you have to. Embrace your humanity. Choose to be…well, to just be.

Now, don’t you think these quotes make for more meaningful New Year’s resolutions than things like “get in shape” or “become a millionaire” do? If you want to include those, go for it, but resolve to set at least one goal for yourself that will ultimately help you get more out of life. You won’t regret it.