The celebration of New Years has always brought new changes to the world around you, especially with New Year resolutions. A change of pace, scenery, attitude and habits are all welcomed and expected, especially during the festive season, leading up to New Year and beyond!

Family get-togethers, a few extra days for recollecting your thoughts and eating a satisfying meal tend to foster an ideal environment to voice your hopes and dreams to the world. And when your voice is heard, there’s no going back!

Isn’t it amazing how so many people come up with resolutions for the New Year and then proceed to change themselves and the world all at once?

The Socent Connection is allied with some of the most inspiring social enterprises, which are keen on connecting with great people, eager and ready to change the world around them. By partnering up with this inspiring network of everyday heroes, you can make a positive impact on the world around you by also fulfilling your New Year resolutions!

Why celebrate New Year’s?

The annual celebration of a New Year comes from the two-faced Roman god Janus. Janus had two faces, allowing him to look in the past and the future simultaneously. Janus was imagined to be looking in the past and the future on December 31st, which is why the Romans made resolutions for the future and forget the troubles of the past. It was believed that Janus had the power and will to forgive mistakes and grant a blessing for the New Year.

How to celebrate New Year’s?

There is no wrong-way of celebrating it, as long as you are happy, content with your past, present and future. If you sense in yourself that you truly want to improve on a character trait or a skill, New Years allows you the opportunity to contemplate your vision of a perfect future and to take a step back to plan for it.

And then you can join the party and voice your newly discovered ideas on how to make the world a better place – the idea is better off said out loud rather than kept hidden somewhere deep inside your heart.

Why have New Year resolutions?

Resolutions come and go on a daily basis, but for some reason people put more value and effort into the realisation of their New Year resolutions.

Perhaps it is the festive spirit and the group support that we draw upon to make these resolutions and to reach out for our dreams together?

How to make New Year resolutions?

Set your goals using SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. The SMART guideline is used by businesses to set and achieve goals in high rates of efficiency. It can also be applied to every aspect of a person’s life – it’s that simple!

First of all, by making your resolution specific, you can focus on the specific actions or changes you need to implement in order to achieve your goal.

By making your objectives and goals measurable, you are ensuring that your progress will not only help you get motivated from the start, but also that it will tell you the cold hard facts which relate to the realisation of your newly discovered dreams.

Your goals need to be achievable and realistic. It is better to take small steps in the right direction, rather than running without any direction at all. By setting achievable goals you are forced to believe in yourself and your progress in the future. If you think that it is unlikely that you will achieve your goals, it is less likely that you will act against your intuition.

And finally organising your objectives to adhere to a time-scale will help you optimise your performance and to check your progress against the rest of the SMART guidelines – you can’t build a spaceship overnight, right?

Making an impact through common New Year resolutions

According to Statista, one of the most common New Year resolutions are to eat healthy, exercise more and save money. Even though it sounds as simple as that, these three objectives seem to be made out of many smaller scale habits, which tend to be part of the overall empowerment process of the individual, as part of the society in general.

For example, to eat healthy means to pay attention to the process of how your food gets onto your plate. Is it organic? Is it nutritious and doesn’t contain any allergens? What is the carbon footprint required by your daily meals? Knowledge is power, but it is hard to always be fully informed and adhere to the latest scientific facts when it comes to diet.

This is where it is most beneficial to stick to the basic facts about well-being and nutrition:

  • Drink plenty of water.
  • Focus on your breath.
  • Uninterrupted sleep is key to a happy life.

Once you simplify each goal or idea into its core values, it is easy to make the right decisions when it comes to following through with your New Year resolutions. And if you simplify what it takes to make an impact on the world, you will most likely find that you need to focus on yourself, then your close environment and then the world itself. You can do that all at once by being mindful of your daily purchasing decisions and considering supporting a charity or a social enterprise which will not only help you to fulfill your ambitions, but to make life a bit better for another person.

Three Social Enterprises which will help you make an impact in 2019

In the modern world, we have to be very thankful to be able to drink clean water straight from the tap – it is a luxury which is often taken for granted, as there are populations in the world, which struggle to get access to clean water.

GiveMeTap

Advocating for the right to access clean sources of water in the developing world has led us to connect with GiveMeTap. GiveMeTap is a social enterprise, with a main objective to provide access to clean water for the people living in developing countries. The GiveMeTap water bottle is a testament to the growing movement which incorporates the resolution to produce less plastic waste, saving money and providing access to clean water as a basic human right. 20% of all proceeds from GiveMeTap bottle sales are donated to trusted NGO partners in Africa, which eliminates the necessity for middlemen or other organisations.

If you wish to save money, be healthier and reminded that such simple things as a re-usable water bottle can have a huge difference on people’s lives, then a great New Year’s resolution might be to connect with GiveMeTap!

Elephant Branded

Another Social Enterprise which we are proud to be associated with is Elephant Branded. This organisation will help you make arguably one of the greatest resolutions – to help others in need.

Knowledge is power, and Elephant Branded is providing this power to the children of Africa and Asia – one school kit at a time. At Elephant Branded, when you buy any of their products, you are also donating a school kit to children in need – it’s as simple as that. If your resolution is knowledge, this organisation will help you manifest your statement by making the world a better place through education. Connect with Elephant Branded and give the gift of knowledge!

Elephant Branded’s products are also made out of recyclable material, covering all bases when it comes to having an ideally balanced and eco-friendly product!

Stand4 Socks

For those who are looking forward to simply looking and feeling good in 2019 – Stand4 Socks. This social enterprise asks the question: “Can socks change the world?” With your help in 2019, the answer seems to be a resounding “YES!”

A New Year means new socks! Stand4 Socks respond to the need for clean, dry and comfy socks for the homeless. Changing the world by giving a person the joy of having dry and warm feet is something that can accompany your resolution to make an impact in 2019.

The Stand4 Socks social enterprise introduces durability, performance and comfort into their sock designs – we think that it is a great product, which brings great social change to the world. Connect with Stand4 Socks.

Connect with Socent this New Year!

Having a great lifestyle comes with showing a great example and leaving a great impact on the world, as well as yourself. No matter what you decide to do, The Socent Connection will always be there to support your ambitions, visions and progress.

We have exciting resolutions for 2019 ourselves! From talks and lectures at universities; to workshops in schools and colleges; The National Citizen Service (NCS); more partnerships with social enterprises and other organisations; connecting more young people with social enterprises; and preparing for Social Enterprise Day, we aim to make more impact in 2019. Lots to be excited about!
Join us in 2019 and let’s make a difference together! Let us know about your ideas and ambitions for 2019 and join our inspiring network of ambitious world-changers!

We leave you with a quote from one of our favourite songs for New Year resolutions making:

“I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change” – Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson

Perhaps you would like to put your New Year resolutions into action, or are interested in changing the world, as well as yourself this New Year. If so, why not fill out our contact us form or speak to one of our friendly humans at 07540 958211.