25 great new year resolutions for 2024

9. FIND YOUR PURPOSE More of us than ever before face the likelihood of living to 100, according to veteran journalist and author William J. Kole. His book _The Big 100: The New World of

Super-Aging_ notes that the number of centenarians is projected to increase eightfold by 2050 as the oldest and fittest of the boomers reach the century mark. Eating cleanly, exercising

regularly, connecting socially with others and shedding toxic stress all help. But for 2024, Kole recommends greeting each day with a sense of purpose. “Some of us are going to hit ‘The Big

100’ whether we want to or not,” says Kole, the grandson of a centenarian. “Life is a gift. Let’s do everything we can to make the most of it.” Illustration: Sam Island 10. PRACTICE

‘HURKLE-DURKLE’ Giving yourself the time — and the grace — to rest is vital to reducing stress and improving mental health. “Hurkle-durkle” is a 200-year-old Scottish word for lounging in

bed long after it’s time to get up or go to work. Instead of thinking of this as being lazy or unproductive, embrace the idea of hurkle-durkle time every now and then to count your

blessings, stretch, meditate, pray, or just rest and let your mind wander a bit before jumping into the noise and busyness of the day. 11. STOP HITTING SNOOZE If you have somewhere to be and

can’t practice hurkle-durkle, don’t hit the snooze button. Those fleeting moments of falling back into hard sleep can put your body into a state of disorientation. When you hit the snooze

button and fall back to sleep, it can trigger your brain to go into a sleep cycle, which typically lasts 75 to 90 minutes. When the alarm goes off a few minutes later, it can put you in a

state of sleep inertia, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls “a temporary disorientation and decline in performance and/or mood.” No wonder you feel discombobulated!

12. MAP OUT YOUR YEAR It can be easy to fall into a busy routine with work and appointments sucking up most of your time, but planning can help you keep priorities in order. Entrepreneur and

author Jesse Itzler advises: “The only way that you can defend yourself against it is to do things that time can’t take away. … It can’t take away a marathon I ran or a podcast I launched.”

Itzler plans out his entire year, adding in vacations, time with friends, marathons and more, using what he calls “The Big A## Calendar,” — a calendar he created that comes on one giant

sheet so you can view your entire year at a glance. “Because if I don’t plan it, I’m not going to do it,” he says. So, whatever calendar you use, take some time reviewing your year ahead and

scheduling events that matter to you.  13. READ OUT LOUD You may have been a student the last time you read aloud (or heard someone else do it), but read-alouds are not just for kids. One

author says they’re also a way for adults to slow down, sharpen up and reconnect. _The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction_ by Meghan Cox Gurdon

argues that reading aloud has phenomenal benefits: It builds emotional bonds, floods our brains with language and imagery, and acts as an antidote for our fractured attention spans. A 2017

Canadian study in the journal _Memory _found “superior memory for reading aloud oneself vs. hearing another person read aloud,” showing that speaking and hearing yourself both contributed to

the production effect, which means it helps the brain to store the information so that it becomes long-term memory. Says Gurdon, “I loved reading nightly to our five kids, but reading to my

husband is now my favorite way to spend a civilized evening — highly recommended, with or without firelight and cocktails!” 14. CLEAR OUT YOUR STORAGE UNIT Out of sight, out of mind works a

little too well for many of us. This year, if you are paying to keep items in a storage unit, strive to clear it out. With nearly 50,000 sites across the U.S., storage is a $40 billion

industry, writes Matt Paxton in his AARP book _Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff_. “Fit what you must store in your existing home,” Paxton says. “Your home is already one giant storage unit,

and you pay a lot for it, either in taxes and mortgage payments or rent. Anything you need should fit in there. I use the principle of ‘equal in, equal out’: discard an item (equal in size

or shape) for any new one.” (Find more tips in our Smart Guide to Decluttering.) 15. CHALLENGE YOURSELF WITH A “NO-SPEND” WEEKEND One weekend a month, challenge yourself to not spend any

money on any nonessential items. Instead of dining out, cook meals at home, and when you do go out, try to participate in free activities. Taking even small spending breaks can add up to big

savings — and you can earmark the money saved to take a special trip, make a charitable donation or buy someone a gift. 16. USE THE HEIRLOOMS Are some sacred family heirlooms collecting

dust in your closet? Shana Novak, photographer and author of_ The Heirloomist: 100 Treasures and the Stories They Tell_, inherited a set of Lenox china, a crate of crystal stemware and 12

sterling silver table settings from her grandmother. “[My grandmother] told fabulously detailed stories about many of our family’s heirlooms, but for the silver, she could recall dinner

parties where it was used, right down to where guests were seated and what was served,” Novak says. “In an act of wild disregard for their perceived preciousness, I too started using the

silverware — every day. To this day, I stir my coffee with her spoons. I slurp takeout noodles off the forks. And sometimes I even have a cheeseburger and French fries off a china plate. It

feels delightfully decadent, which she was, and makes me feel connected to her every single time. Use the heirlooms!” 17. PLAN AN EPIC WALK Actor Andrew McCarthy’s book _Walking with Sam: A

Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain_, details his five-week trek along Spain’s 500-mile Camino de Santiago with his 19-year-old son. “There were moments near the end where I

was just like, Oh my God, my body is done here. Although then the closer to the end it gets, the more emotionally satisfying it becomes. So you’re at a weird sort of juxtaposition of

physically getting exhausted and emotionally becoming more elated,” McCarthy told AARP. If you’re looking for a less-traveled pilgrimage, consider Spain’s Mozarabic Way or Camino Mozárabe,

Romania’s Via Transilvanica or the Via Francigena, which goes through Switzerland and Italy to Rome. If you’re looking for stateside options, the Appalachian Trail covers 2,174 miles and

runs through 14 states. On the other coast, the Pacific Crest Trail is some 2,650 miles and goes between Canada and Mexico, through Washington, Oregon and California. Both can be done in

slices! Illustration: Sam Island