Whether your New Year’s resolutions involve living a healthier lifestyle, saving money and establishing financial freedom, expanding your personal brand, or anything else, it’s impossible to accomplish your goals without the support of your spouse. After marriage, personal goals and relationship goals begin to blur and a resolution you have for yourself as an individual will undoubtedly impact your husband as well. On top of that, a lifestyle change of any kind is hard to maintain when the person you share a household with isn’t on board.
For example, a few years ago, I was ready to commit to changing my diet to eat less processed foods. I threw away all the unhealthy snacks in our home without consulting my (then) fiancé. After a few days of snacking on fruit and carrot sticks, he went out and bought chips, ice cream, and candy and completely restocked our pantry. Maybe my willpower just isn’t where it should be, but it was extremely hard for me to snack on kale chips while he ate chocolate chip cookies on the couch right next to me, and eventually, I caved. Last year, I again decided that it was time to change what I was putting into my body. This time, I went about it totally differently and consulted my husband about how we could find a balance between eating the foods we love and maintaining a healthier lifestyle. Now, we both snack on fruits (most of the time – we still both love a bag of chips or scoop of ice cream every now and then) and are green smoothie fanatics. Having my husband’s support has made it so much easier and, more than that, it’s something that we have in common and enjoy doing together.
Here’s how you can get your husband on board with your New Year’s resolutions:
Explain to him WHY it’s important to you Sit down with your significant other and discuss the goals you’ve made. Explain why it’s important and tell him what the benefits will be. Also, be honest about what you’ll need from him throughout the process. If you’ll need him to be understanding and help around the house while you work over time making your dreams come true, tell him that. If it’s important to you that he not eat fried foods in front of you and refrain from tempting you with brownies and ice cream, tell him and explain why. Once he understands why it’s so important and sees how it will not only benefit you, but him as well, he will likely be down for the cause.
Find a balance Make sure your husband doesn’t get the short end of the stick because of your resolution and find a balance between your goals and his needs. For example, if your goal is to expand your brand and you find yourself working around the clock, make sure you are still making time for a date night each week. If you want to eat healthier but your man’s favorite food is fried chicken, find a healthier friend chicken recipe that he loves or give yourself one cheat meal each week where you’ll make him whatever his heart desires. If you want to save more but your husband is a big spender, agree to an amount he can spend each month that won’t break the bank or completely derail your financial goals. It’s all about balance and making sure that your resolutions don’t completely change what he knows and loves.
Make it fun Once you’re hubby is on board, make it fun. The best thing about having his support and participation is that now you have something new to connect over. If living a healthier lifestyle is your goal, work out together or have weekly Biggest Loser style weight loss challenges to see which of you is closest to their goal weight. If saving more money is what you have in mind, start a competition to see who can go the longest without shopping or buying a latte from Starbuck’s. A little friendly competition is always fun and can motivate you both to stay the course.
What is your New Year’s resolution? Is your hubby down for the cause? I’d love to hear from you!
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