Start your New Year’s Resolutions today and make a positive impact on your life and others. The UK's top New Year Resolution is to increase their amount of exercise. This is closely followed by losing weight which 44% of the population have made.

Tenura has come up with inclusive New Year Resolution’s for Disabled Persons, so take a look and see if there are any you want to adopt to better yourself and others in 2020!

1. Outdoors - Explore the outdoors and local area! This can be simple if you plan a route and do some research. You may need to check; the gradient of the hill, the type of terrain, the distance the walk entails, to make sure it is accessible. Towpaths are a great place to start as they tend to be a flatter surface than ordinary pavements. You never know, you may enjoy studying maps or find a love for nature and the outdoors. Some of our daily living aids may help you whilst out and about so take a look at our range.
2. Health - Make your health a priority. Try making good life decisions surrounding your health like making the right food choices such as; eating plenty of vegetables and drinking water. Another way to improve your health is by getting into routines. A routine can help you establish and keep to your healthy decisions. If you know at 10 am you go for a walk in the park, it isn’t as daunting of a task the next day. The more times you do it, the more you will embrace it and see the benefits. Make sure the goal is achievable as everything is within moderation. Setting yourself an unattainable target will mean you aren’t likely to continue with the resolution.
3. Fitness - Try exercises that suit your ability level. If you have a low mobility level, you could try small movements each day. As you improve, you can start to lift objects such as a soup tin. Hold the tin out with your arm 90° to one side of your body, or as close to this as possible. Repeat this exercise on each arm twice a day. Hold the tin there for as long as possible. This will help build strength in both arms. Make sure you choose appropriate exercises to your mobility level to avoid causing harm. Ask your carer as they may have some knowledge of alternative exercises you can do to increase your fitness level. If you attach Tenura Self Adhesive Non-Slip Strips to the object you are lifting, the object is less likely to slip out of your hand. Therefore, you can avoid causing harm to yourself or others.
4. Socialise – Join community groups specialised for persons with disabilities. Local charities have great initiatives such as; Public Health, Community ‘clean-up’ and Inter-faith programmes. Make an effort to get to know your carer, this is a great idea as you spend time together already and it can help them to understand you better and vice versa. If you are a young person with a disability, there are fantastic social media platforms like The Mighty, which allows you to socialise from the comfort of your home. You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to connect with us and to stay up-to-date with our product range and inspirational posts.
5. Get a job – Charities in our local area offer work to persons in their care. Such roles include working in a café where you can learn mathematical skills which help to keep your brain engaged. It also provides you with an opportunity to meet more of the local people and socialise, which is important as having a disability can be isolating at times. Other job roles they offer is working at a gardening centre or through their social enterprise schemes. These can allow you to develop skills in catering, horticulture, retail, media, customer services and animal care.
6. Optimism – Try to have a positive outlook on life. Include yourself in groups and social activities that can increase your mental wellbeing. This is important to help achieve an optimistic point of view. This resolution can be an eye-opener, allowing you to feel better about yourself and others. If you are introverted, you may want to read inspirational quotes. The Japan Paralympic games will display plenty of admirable people to follow and gain confidence from as they promote equality on an international level. You may be tempted to get involved in some of the sports you see the athletes competing in, exercise is so good for a positive mindset.
7. Test yourself – You may no longer be in education, but training the brain can improve your mental health and will also help with your memory and logical skills as it stimulates the mind. It can also increase your concentration power. It is easy to get involved in brain training activities as they can be found on the internet, mobile apps, newspapers and magazines making them incredibly accessible.

To succeed at your New Year's Resolutions, you could write them down or get creative and make a poster to refer back to. Get your family, friends and carers involved so they can aid you in taking steps towards your goals and help you have a Happy New Year.

Another way to make sure your resolutions will be successful is to make them small. Then build on them throughout the year. An example of this could be you want to be more social, so you decide to join a group. Following this, you can work towards joining a social enterprise.  In years to come, you then may decide to take on an advocate role for that organisation/­group. You need to lay the groundwork to make your New Year Resolutions work for you.