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When the New Year rolls around there’s always a lot of talk of New Year’s Resolutions and the changes you can make throughout the year to come. Whilst many people’s targets are often specific and focus on certain aspects of their life, other people tend to make much bigger and well-rounded goals.

A common large goal among resolution-makers tends to be to ‘become a better person’. Whilst it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re an awful person for making this goal, it does mean you can work on several different areas of your life – all of which are aimed at the things you can do to make the world a better place.

With that in mind, here are 12 things you can do to help you become a better person:

1. Volunteer For A Worthy Cause

One of the best ways to contribute to the community is to volunteer for a worthy cause. Almost everyone will have a charity that they favor, so finding a way to volunteer for them on a regular basis will really help you feel as though you’re doing something worthwhile. Whether you help by volunteering in their charity store or helping out at events, there are so many different ways you can get involved alongside your day to day job.

          2. Start Donating To Charity

If you’re not able to spare the time to volunteer for your favorite charity, there are lots of other ways you can help – including donating money. Whilst you can simply submit a donation online every month, it’s often much more fun to get involved and do some creative fundraising. From sponsored silences to fitness challenges, you can be sponsored for practically anything!

         3. Take Unwanted Health And Beauty Items To A Womens/Homeless Shelter

If you have lots of unused health and beauty items (like shampoo, conditioner and body wash) that you don’t plan on using, donating them to a women’s or homeless shelter is a great way to help those that are less fortunate than you. Although they may receive monetary donations throughout the year, they don’t often receive the important items they need on a day to day basis.

If you find you don’t ever have any health and beauty items spare but you still want to help, try purchasing extra every time you purchase your own and start a collection.

         4. Start Shopping Locally

Small businesses appreciate every single customer they can get, however, they will find it difficult to compete with the larger well-known stores that are EVERYWHERE. If you know of a small business that sells the same products you would normally buy from a supermarket, try shopping with them once or twice a week. Not only is it more environmentally friendly, but it will also make the business owners day.

         5. Practice Self Care Whenever You Can

Becoming a better person doesn’t necessarily mean you only have to do things for others, as looking after yourself is important too. Try practicing self-care whenever you get the opportunity. Whether it’s taking a hot bath at the end of the long day or spending a few hours before bed reading a book.

         6. Change Your Career To Something That Focuses On Helping Others

If you’re serious about making a change to become a better person than you could always consider changing your career to something that focuses on helping others. Whether you want to become a nurse, a doctor or teacher – finding the right job for you can be incredibly rewarding, even if you have to go through years of training and education beforehand. If you want to get into nursing, you can pursue an online fnp program.

          7.Start Reading More (Both Fiction And Non-Fiction)

Another way to become a better person is to constantly be doing things that improve your mental health – a great example of this is reading. Whether you enjoy a good fantasy novel or prefer getting cosy with a self-help book, reading is great for the mind.

         8. Take Part In Meat Free Mondays

If you want to start doing your part to help look after the environment but you’re not ready for the commitment of becoming vegan or vegetarian, there’s always the option to take part in Meat Free Monday’s. The idea behind this international trend is that whilst one person going meat-free one day a week won’t make much difference, thousands of people making a small change will.

All you have to do is go every Monday without eating meat and you’ll be making a huge difference! For recipe ideas, you can visit this site here.

         9. Try Going Vegan or Vegetarian

If you want to make more of a commitment than going meat-free one day a week, there’s always the option to go fully-fledged vegan or vegetarian. The difference this can make to the environment has been proven many times, as well as it being known to improve physical and mental health.

Whilst it’s not an easy feat to take, it will certainly be a rewarding one.

        10. Start Listening To Other’s More

Although it may seem as though you listen to what the people around you are saying, it’s easy to get distracted. With everyone relying on their smartphones for every little bit of information, it’s not long before a conversation will turn to ‘searching on your phones’ for something and getting carried away. Try spending time with loved ones and putting the tech away, you’ll be surprised where the conversation can take you.

       11. Make Time For Those That Are Important To You

Everyone has a busy life, but spending time with the people that mean the most to you is important. You never know what can happen and whilst work may be important, it shouldn’t be your whole life.

Make sure you’re making the time to see those that are important to you as often as you can.

       12. Do Things That Make You Happy

Finally, the most valuable thing you can do to help you become a better person is to do things that make you happy. Having a happy mind is the first step to improving all aspects of your life, so it’s definitely the best place to start.

Do you plan on becoming a better person now that we’ve entered into a new year? Let me know how you plan on changing in the comments below.