10 New Year's Resolutions that give your relationships a workout

Year to year it seems like people make the same tired resolutions - losing weight and getting in shape. But your relationships need a workout too! Relationship always manage to fall by the wayside because they take overall changes in your lifestyle to increase the quality of your relationship with others and with yourself.

Here are some suggestions which will improve your relationships and may not be so results-based.

Pick a goal you can attain right away. Pick a movie you haven't watched that you have been meaning to and watch it. If you have been meaning to read a special book, get right to it. It will give you a sense of accomplishment to check one off.
Pick longer-term goals which are also attainable: Resolve to get your taxes in early and get cracking on them right away. You will have more time to enjoy time with friends and family instead of freaking out at the last minute.
Make a date with your spouse or significant other at least twice a month. Take the time to make it special, but be flexible about what it is, when it is, and what you do. There are couples who schedule every Friday night without fail. Being inflexible and making it every week may seem overwhelming if you are out of practice. The important thing is that you spend time doing something with your loved one.
Get more sleep. Dr. Oz told People Magazine and NBC Dateline on 1/6/13 that a lack of sleep can trigger weight gain as well as other health problems. Plus, not getting enough sleep can make you downright grouchy. Being better rested and not so grouchy means you will be more patient with your loved ones. Try getting to sleep earlier or getting up a hair later and see which you like best. Record late night shows that you love and watch them later or watch them online.
Shut off the TV during dinner. Record anything you think you're missing or watch the news a little bit later. There are multiple and very repetitive news broadcasts with the same top stories, so you really aren't missing anything. You will learn things about your family. Even if everyone is a bit quiet at first, start asking questions about music anyone is listening too that might be of interest rather than sticking to how school or work went. Conversation skills are important to develop and parents or guardians are expected to lead the way.
Shut off the TV at least one night per week and do something with friends-or do something else that needs to get done. As good as you think it feels to "relax" in front of the TV, Fox, CNN, and TIME magazine all agree that watching too much television has detrimental health effects.
Try out a new hobby. This can be considered to be one of those easily attainable goals. You don't have too like your new hobby. You don't have to stick with it. You just have to try it and you can check that off your list and know that you accomplished one of your goals. You can try growing some of your own vegetables. Actually you might just want to start with one kind and see how you do. You may kill off all of your seedlings, but the point is to try. It will give you something different to talk about if it's something you have never tried. It's a very inexpensive hobby to try if you get a tray of seed starter pellets and a packet of seeds. If you go to a nursery, you can get some advice from someone who loves gardening rather than going to a big box retail chain which has warm bodies at cash registers.
Keep track of any accomplishments in the family or with your loved ones. If anyone gets a good grade on a test, or gets on a team, or has a great success with a project be sure to take the time to acknowledge it.
Log off and silence your ringer! Take some time without social media to spend with friends. Dateline NBC ran a story on January 6, 2013 about roommates taking a digital detox and the challenges they faced. All of the roommates felt that they improved their relationships when they had to spend time talking to people instead of texting and tweeting their thoughts.
Don't text while driving. California and many other states have laws against texting and driving, but perhaps now is the time to take it more seriously. You will see things you may have missed while you were paying attention to your phone instead of to the road. Testing while driving is not just when you respond, but also when you read emails or text messages. Car and Driver magazine found that texting while driving was more dangerous than drinking and driving! Even the FCC (Federal Communication Commission) is asking that government employees not text while driving and gives some suggestions if you have teen drivers in your family.

Good luck with your New Years Resolutions! Have fun with trying some new things this year! And remember it's not to late to change your new year resolutions around!

Diana Diaz is also the LA Rock Music Examiner. This year she resolves to write a new column as Sex and Relationships Examiner and get everything up and running on the page. She also plans to grow some of her own vegetables - even though she killed lots of seedlings, some lived! She promises not to text while driving and get more sleep.

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