New Year, New Blog

Isn’t it ironic starting a new blog with the first post being about how many people start new activities in January?

So, about us – my name is Megan, and I am originally from the Midlands. I started my career in recruitment with Monarch Education around 3 years ago. I decided to relocate to Manchester in the middle of the pandemic, and have loved being here ever since. However, I do enjoy my visits back home – it is a lot greener than the Northern Quarter!

My name is Lucy, and I started my recruitment career 15 years ago. In this time I have had two little girls, and have just returned from maternity leave to begin a new adventure at Affinity Workforce Solutions. I live in Manchester, however, I am originally from Preston, I can’t seem to leave the North West, but really why would I want to? (Unless I was going to trade it in for a warmer climate!)

?Together, we thought we would do our first blog on something that everyone can relate to – January habits/new starts. To paint a picture, we work in an office which has a continuous line of snacks – imagine a lunch out, followed by a run to Tesco for an afternoon sticky toffee pudding.

?When I started in the Manchester branch, I was pre-warned about the dreaded ‘Manchester Stone!’ Apparently, a new job + endless snacking + eating out regularly = congratulations…you now weigh one stone heavier! This being the case, our first goal of January 2023 was to make healthier choices! A ‘Thank you for your hard work in 2022’ meal was organised by our managers at Piccolinos (yes, not calorie friendly, however, we can’t limit ourselves too much, especially not when creamy pasta and garlic bread is involved, (All in moderation hey!) So, let’s say, we are now being more sensible with our food choices, combining this with 10k steps every day and ‘Dry Jan’ (or maybe just damp Jan for Lucy!) - This had us thinking…how many people start diets on January 1st? How many people start new habits or try to implement new hobbies? Making changes is never easy, but we are trying!

?Dry January has been around as far back as the 1940s. At the time, the Finnish government introduced “Sober January” as part of the country’s war efforts. With the whirlwind of Christmas parties and festivities over and the endless stream of wine and cocktails…all in the name of Christmas of course. So come January, naturally it is a time to implement a feel-good change, which will ultimately have knock on effects both physically and mentally. It was reported that nearly 1 in 5 people attempted Dry January in 2022. The results were nothing short of positive, with 86% of participants saving money, 70% of participants claimed better sleep and 66% had more energy!

?Our 10k steps a day is something we will try and do every day, however, whilst writing this I am working from home and currently on 105 steps as my watch has no battery – great start! According to perkbox.com, 58% of Brits are trying to reach the goal of walking 10,000 steps a day with only 29% reaching this goal on average. With the cost of living being so expensive, me and my partner use this is as a saving tactic, and if either of us don’t reach our 10k step goal – we transfer ￡5 into an account …which does actually build up quite fast! We enjoy the motivation that the 10k steps gives us, to walk the long way to work maybe, or getting outside on lunch times. If you don’t already aim to do 10k steps a day, we definitely recommend trying this - give it a go even if it is just for the rest of January. There are so many benefits both physically and mentally with doing 10,000 steps every day.

?So, January, New Year New us – the top 10 resolutions statistically across the UK are: 1.??Exercise more

2. Lose weight

3. Be more organized

4. Learn a new skill or hobby?

5. Live life to the fullest

6. Save more money / spend less money

7. Quit smoking

8. Spend more time with family and friends

9. Read more

10. Travel more

Are these habits/resolutions the best ones? They would certainly be beneficial to the individual, however, do we think of the impact on hospitality/consumers??Maybe January actually leads to putting more pressure on ourselves? Do we feel deflated if we fail? Does it even matter if we fail? I’m sure most will agree, a healthy balanced life is the best way forward! Many people are?living a life by the ‘80/20 rule’ which can be applied to most areas of life, whether it be work, socializing, finances or dieting - we’ll cut out the Pizza hut buffet on a Monday, but still allow ourselves that treat of a weekend. We have signed up for a team 10k to raise money in the upcoming months so our training progress will also be documented in our blogs to come.

Between us, we are trying to implement the majority of these ‘typical New Year’s Resolutions’. It would be great to know what your new habits/resolutions are! Do you buy into the January habits? Hopefully, this blog will contribute to making us more accountable for our choices. Come February, when we begin our next adventure, we can update you all on our successes!

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