Do you know what the single most common New Year’s resolution is? If you guessed weight loss, you’re not far off: 82% of people say they want to improve their health in some way.

Health and wellness are extremely popular topics. When you consider that major problems like obesity and stress run rampant in our society, it’s not hard to see why. If you’re passionate about health and fitness, or you have valuable information to share on things like family medicine, you may feel that learning how to start a healthy living blog is the right step for you.

Of course, deciding you want to be a health blogger is one thing. Figuring out where to begin is quite another, as the process of starting any blog can be overwhelming.

When it comes to how to start a healthy living blog, facing your fears is going to be the first step. Many people who would like to start a blog are worried about what others will think of them, especially when it comes to sensitive subjects such as womens health, pediatric healthcare, and the like. Others feel that they aren’t qualified to write about healthy living and struggle with severe imposter syndrome. And lots of people who feel inspired to write about knowledge are fearful of being targeted by those with opposing views, or even by online bullies.

Sadly, these concerns are very much grounded in real life. Any time you put yourself out there and state an opinion, you’ll be at risk of being attacked by someone who disagrees with you, no matter how well-researched your ideas about CBD health supplements are. And when you’re writing about something as critical as people’s health, you do have a big responsibility to your community to make sure your information is accurate.

That being said, fears like these shouldn’t stop you from learning how to start a healthy living blog if it’s what you really want to do. Blogging is tough work, but it’s also one of the most rewarding and freeing things you can do. In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know how to start a healthy living blog.

How to Start a Healthy Living Blog: Choosing Your Niche

Once you know that blogging is what you want to do, and once you’re committed to doing the hard work to make it happen, the first step is choosing your niche. That’s not the same as choosing your category, or subject: in this case, your category is health. Your niche is like a sub-category of your category, like how womens health counseling is a unique niche within health advice and counseling in general.

Some categories have more niches than others, but the health category has several. This includes the following:

• Weight loss and diet blogs: These blogs either provide dieting information or document a personal weight loss journey.
• Health food blog: These blogs focus on healthy eating, with easy recipe ideas, advice, and food photography.
• Specialized exercise blogs: These sites provide helpful tools and information for people in niche exercise communities, such as runners, weight trainers, and yoga practitioners.
• Fitness professionals: These blogs publish articles and advice from personal trainers and coaches who sell their training services.
• Healthy lifestyle: These websites feature information on all aspects of staying healthy.

The most important question you have to answer when choosing your niche is, who are the people you want to help with your health information? This should usually be a group that you’re a part of, or a group you’ve had significant experience with. For example, if you used to be a yoga instructor, making a yoga blog would make sense. If you’re a passionate runner, a running blog would be the most authentic expression of your knowledge. And if you’ve had significant experience working the older people, a blog on elderly care might be a great idea.

Along those lines, it’s important to recognize that the categories listed above aren’t the only niches you an use. If you have an idea for a blog that combines niches or fits into a different niche altogether, it could still be a viable blog. The important thing is that there are other people out there in that community, who need that information. As long as those people exist and you understand them, your blog idea is probably worth pursuing.

Whatever niche you choose, it’s especially important that it’s something you’re passionate about. To become a respected and reliable blogger, you’re going to have to stay up to date on everything that happens in your space. If reading about health clinics and the different types of medical practitioners bores you to tears, you aren’t going to enjoy doing that kind of research for your medical advice and reviews blog. On the other hand, if you practically live and breathe weight training or bodybuilding, chances are you stay up to date on those things already. In this case, simply writing about what you learn would almost be a labor of love for you.

If you’re on the fence about what niche to write in, there are a couple of techniques you can try. First, start with a broad niche that you’re interested in, then narrow it down to a smaller sub-niche within it. For example, since you want to write about health, define what you consider to be the most important part of healthy living. Maybe the most important thing to you is food and nutrition. In that case, narrow your niche down further, to a sub-niche in the food category. This might be vegan or paleo diet foods, or even recipes that are compatible with popular brands like the Bulletproof Diet.

You can also incorporate aspects of healthy living with mental health. Here, you might be able to offer organizational tips for the home and talk about the benefits of going to a therapist. When it comes to organization, a clean home can help create a clearer mind. You’ll feel more relaxed every time you come through the door when you’re not worried about clutter getting in your way. Tuck your storage boxes safely behind your garage door to keep them safe from the elements, especially with winter on its way. You can even learn how to build storage above garage doors to keep your footpath clear should you actually use your garage for your car. Cobra garage door racks and similar brands are key in helping you organize your space.

But talking about the importance of going to a mental health professional is also key. You won’t want to offer any concrete advice unless you have a license. But talking about your own experience with a therapist can encourage other people who are struggling to follow suit.

The second way to choose a niche is to investigate what’s already popular. One of the best ways to do this is to find out what search terms people are using to find health information, and which terms aren’t producing many relevant search results. If lots of people are all searching for the same things, and no major health websites are providing significant information on those subjects, that’s a good sign that there’s high demand and low supply for that topic. Tools like Buzzsumo and Answer the Public both have features to help you discover what people are searching for online. This is also a great way to get started with search engine optimization, or SEO, which is an important part of how to start a healthy living blog.

Research and Plan Your Blog

Once you know your niche, the next step of how to start a healthy living blog is to do your research and make a content plan. This basically means figuring out what you’re going to write about, and getting the information and sources you need to write it.

Create blog posts that people not only find, but want to read, is much harder than it may seem on the surface. People are more distracted with more options than ever before, and blogs know this, with each one competing jealously for readers’ attention. If you want your blog to stand out and get read, it’s not enough to simply have accurate and useful information, especially if you want to appear in Google search results. Every time you write a blog post, your goal should be to write the best article on that particular subject. If you can write the first article on a given subject, that’s even better.

Even though your blog is still in its planning phase at this point, it’s still a good idea to begin outlining some of your future articles. Specifically, you should be thinking about something called evergreen content: the articles that matter most to your blog and your blog’s niche. These articles should be on subjects that people keep coming back to — topics that aren’t exclusively relevant to any point in time. For example, a long blog post called “everything you need to know to start losing weight” is going to be relevant for a long time, if not forever. On the other hand, a review of the latest smart watch device for health tracking is only going to be relevant until the next device is released.

You want to come up with as many ideas for evergreen content as you can because these are going to be your blog’s foundation. In many ways, they’ll determine whether people see you as a real expert or a wannabe, so it’s important that your information is accurate. Your presentation of that content should be clear and easy to understand, but it should also be presented in a way that expresses your unique style as a writer.

Besides planning and writing some evergreen blog posts, you should brainstorm other posts to publish between your evergreen pieces. Your first two or three posts should probably be evergreen posts, but after that, you want to sprinkle in some lighter, more timely articles in between your evergreen content. These should be easier to write. They might be things like book reviews, opinion pieces on latest diet trends, and interviews with local home health care services — things that aren’t really foundational to your entire blog’s niche, but still important to readers.

Begin Setting Up Your Blog

As you’re figuring out how to start a healthy living blog, the preparation should always come first. Choosing your niche, doing your research, and starting your writing is an effective way to make sure you really have a viable idea on your hands, and that you have what it takes to work at it. You don’t want to go to the trouble of buying a domain name and setting up your website if your idea hasn’t been validated first.

Now that you’ve got your research done, it’s time for the next step in how to start a healthy living blog: setting up your site. It’s at this point that you must decide what kind of blog you want yours to be. Will it be a laid-back, more personal blog, perhaps to document your experiences and research with healthy living? Or do you want it to be the next big contender in the online health space?

Setting up a website for a blog is a lot simpler than building a professional site for businesses like home care medical supplies stores. A simple, personal blog is easy to set up and start writing for. You can sign up for a free Blogger or WordPress site, and you don’t even have to buy a website address. You’ll be allowed to customize your blog’s appearance, although customization will be limited, especially on Blogger. You’ll also be able to set up things like an “About Me” page, a contact form for people to get in touch with you, and organizational and metadata tools for blogs.

The best things about simple blog sites like these is that they range from very cheap to completely free, and they’re relatively easy to set up and use. In fact, you won’t normally require any technical skills at all, once you figure out how the interface works. If you want the simplest user experience possible, Blogger is your best option, while WordPress is better if you need more options or want to upgrade to a professional site later.

If you want to launch a legitimate, professional blog to compete with the big health websites and magazines, you’re going to have your work cut out for you, but it can be done. Most professional bloggers use the WordPress platform on an external web hosting service, such as GoDaddy or WP Engine. This can become complicated if you use a professional hosting service like Amazon’s AWS, but most other web hosts offer streamlined interfaces with one-click WordPress installation.

Once WordPress is set up on your hosting service plan, setting up your blog is usually as easy as it is with a basic, consumer-version WordPress site. However, you will need to purchase a domain name (also known as a web address or URL) and connect it to your website. Depending on where you buy your domain name and what hosting service you use, this can become difficult. The simplest option is usually to buy a domain name from the same company that hosts your website because the two will typically be integrated together. For example, if you’re using GoDaddy to host your site, using them to purchase your domain name as well should result in a simpler setup process.

Start Publishing

With your website set up, the next part of how to start a healthy living blog is simply to begin publishing your writing to the web. If you want your blog to be as well-known and respected as your favorite therapist finder website, you should consider hiring an editor to proofread your writing as you publish it, or at least use proofreading software like Grammarly. When you write about sensitive or scientific health data, you must also remember to link to your sources, and it’s a good idea to have a medical practitioner approve what you’ve written.

From here, there are lots of ways for you to promote and monetize your blog. But this should be everything you need to know on how to start a healthy living blog.

When you wake up in the morning, fresh and full of life, you’re probably thinking about many things that you have to do that day and onward. But as you continue to get dressed and prepared for the day, you’re probably not dwelling on the fact that you’ve got a whole bunch of teeth in your head. Even as you grab your favorite toothbrush or mouthwash and dutifully swish, your mind is probably on a whole host of other things far removed from your dental hygiene.

There’s no need to feel bad about the obliviousness to your teeth, we all take basic things in our life for granted from time to time. But you can bet that as soon as you bite into breakfast, you’re grateful that all your teeth work as intended and not the other way around. Like an ex-lover or favorite television show, don’t wait until your teeth are rotted and awaiting oral surgery to appreciate them. Instead, take precautionary measures to guard your natural teeth while you still have them so that you don’t have to buy dentures or sip your food through a straw.

In this article we’re going to go over how to take care of your teeth properly, while also highlighting how to fix things that go wrong. We’ll also mention cosmetic dentistry, how to find an affordable dentist, and more. Since the most common New Year’s resolution is that people want to improve their health in some way, this is a component of that. It may not be the most entertaining topic in the world, but they’re dental health tips worth knowing. After all, once your teeth are gone they cannot be put back as they were for any price. It’s simply better to take care of them while they’re in your mouth and ready for action.

Choosing Your Dental Technician

If you’ve never gone to the dentist before, then consider yourself lucky to be alive now, when dentists are plentiful and well trained. Of all the dental health tips you can read and scour on the internet or library, choosing a quality dentist should be near the top. Compared to just letting your teeth fall by the wayside, dentists end up being miracle workers in the long run for a whole host of reasons.

Until our modern era, high-quality dental care was not a service that the average person was exposed to. Throughout history, dental care was for the privileged classes, and because dental hygiene and technology was not very advanced (until the advent of modern dental schools and practices), you wouldn’t have wanted it anyway. But luckily nowadays dentists are both plentiful and highly trained, so even if you only go to them expecting dental health tips to bring home you’ll likely receive a whole lot more. They can not only clean your teen but provide composite dental fillings, fit you for dentures, take X-rays (to ensure bone health) and reassure you that your current dental routine is working.

If you’re apprehensive about choosing a dentist, don’t be. Not only are there lots of online reviews you can read about specific dentists, but you can even look up public health records related to licensing and what specific dentists are allowed to practice. Word of mouth is still one of the oldest dental health tips for a reason (because people don’t recommend dentists that mistreat them), but take it with a grain of salt. Good dentists can have bad reputations and vice versa, they are just as dependent on the economic conditions as any other business or specialty.

Go For a Cleaning Twice a Year

One of the most basic dental health tips was probably drilled into your head as a child: remember to brush your teeth twice a day, after breakfast and dinner. If it wasn’t, then now you know that’s a good idea to carry on into your older years. But what about teeth cleaning from a quality dentist? It has moved to the top of the list for dental health tips but is a relatively recent phenomenon.

A cleaning usually consists of several phases, depending on the dentist you go to. First is the actual cleaning, where the dentist uses surgical tools to scrap your teeth for plaque and other oddities or to locate problem areas (such as sensitive teeth). Next, they will usually provide a fluoride rinse or paste, to bond to the newly cleaned teeth. Last, they will check for cavities visually or with newer technology that can penetrate deep into teeth. You’ll know about problem areas before they become a problem, which will save you a fortune in stress and dollars.

If you’d like to get the cleanest teeth imaginable while still getting bang for your buck, it’s recommended that you brush your teeth before going to the dentist so that they can really focus on all the hard-crusted plaque and problem areas that are exposed. While they are certainly there to clean your teeth and don’t mind scraping off gunk, they will be able to give you a lot more information if they are able to view the totality of your mouth and gums without having to wipe away cheese from your most recent pizza.

Use the Right Products at Home

Speaking of dental routine and dental health tips, do you have a good one? This means having a quality brush replaced every six months, and brushing with fluoride toothpaste that has anti-cavity qualities. An additional thing to remember is to floss as well. It’s easy to forget, but dentists harp on it for a reason: sugar, foodstuff, and bacteria hide between your teeth to create plaque and destroy your precious choppers. If you’re unsure about which routines you need to focus on most, ask your dentist to take a detailed look next time you’re in for a regular cleaning.

If you don’t like some of the conventional products that you’re supposed to use, remember that in this technological age you can upgrade. If you’re not a big fan of using floss, you can switch to a WaterPik, which uses jet streams of water to achieve the same goal. If you’re a lazy brusher, then get an electric toothbrush that “does the bushing for you” via vibrations, timed modes or some established routine. Dental health tips aren’t just about what you can do for yourself, but what quality products can help you achieve.

Diet: The Hidden Tooth Mangler

Using the right products at home doesn’t just end in the bathroom. It also means recognizing bad habits that don’t support your dental health and contribute to disease, such as drinking sugary sodas or eating lots of processed foods. You won’t find diet on any list for dental health tips, but it’s radically important to both preventing cavities and improving your overall dental health. You can even think of it as a form of insurance policy: eating better saves your teeth and makes you healthier, therefore saving you money on healthcare costs down the line. It’s almost like you earn money by being healthy!

There can even be hidden costs to eating “healthy food” like fruit or salted nuts if you don’t take care of your teeth. Fruit like pineapple and bananas are wonderful for you but contain high amounts of sugar that can end up rotting your teeth if you don’t take care of them. In a similar vein, nuts can be very healthy if unsalted or not coated with sugar, but detrimental otherwise. Processed foods like deli meats and candies should be avoided if possible simply for health reasons, but if you give yourself a good cleaning afterward there is probably not much harm. The real detriment is in the beverages you consume and other habits you indulge in.

Coffee is a wonderful elixir of modern life but will also stain your teeth. This is simply a fact that any dentist or cosmetic surgeon will confirm. As long as you’re drinking your coffee black (with no sugar, cream, or additives) then all you’ve got to worry about is the cosmetic imperfections, which are easily fixed with whitening strips or hydrogen peroxide treatments. But as soon as you add sugar, milk, and other things into your coffee not only are you on the train to a wild caffeine addiction, but you are going to wreak just as much havoc on your teeth as you would if you were drinking soda pop straight out of the fountain.

The reason that sugary beverages are so insidious, and why they are often listed in dental health tips as things to avoid, is because the sugar is literally able to get into the nooks and crannies of your mouth where it doesn’t belong. This can be hard to floss/brush out, and when it sits there long enough it will form cavities. Sugar-free beverages have their own health risks, and the only “safe” beverages for your teeth are those that are both nourishing and without sugar. Water is the best example, but coffee/tea without additives are acceptable. Fruit juices are fine in moderation but can pose the same problems as soda in the long run.

If Things Get Out of Control, Consult a Specialist

Alas, sometimes even the best dental health tips and tricks can’t prevent something bad from happening. Scientists are still trying to figure out whether some people are genetically prone to disease and dental issues that eventually require periodontal care, or whether it is all the result of what enters the mouth. Regardless of the cause, the resulting condition(s) is not fun at all and can be quite serious if not taken care of. If you happen to need oral surgery, root canals, or more serious dental care, do your research into anyone your dentist recommends. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, shop around for better service at lower prices, or simply get a second opinion.

Surgery always carries with it a degree of risk, even when it is limited to something like your teeth. It may seem like operating on your arm or leg is more important, but your teeth contain many sensitive nerves and blood vessels that lead to other areas of the body. Contamination in your mouth could result in blood poisoning or worse, and an infected jaw is not fun by any means. Always try and seek out a medically sterile environment when going in for any dental surgery procedure, and be well briefed on all the risks that could occur, if only for insurance purposes.

Cosmetic Dentistry and More

Cosmetic dental treatment used to be the domain of a minority of tooth owners, with braces being universally maligned as gaudy and tacky outerwear. That is no longer true, and braces are more common than ever and orthodontists are only happy to provide them. Even celebrities seek out cosmetic dentistry now, whether it’s to fix a gap tooth or keep them from chewing like a giraffe it’s no longer something to be ashamed of. There are many types of cosmetic dentistry other than wire braces, so you don’t have to look like an awkward teenager if you don’t want to.

Clear teeth straighteners emerged recently as an alternative replacement to braces, allowing you to keep the cosmetic look of clean teeth while actually straightening them at the same time. Once you have a mold of your teeth made, they will be crafted with clear material in order to straighten your teeth to where they are supposed to be instead of where they currently are.

Dental veneers occupy a similar space as straighteners, the only difference being the material they are made with. While providing the same function as clear teeth straighteners, veneers are sometimes made of porcelain and can be painted to look better than your regular teeth. They are not nearly as popular as they once were because of improvements in teeth straightening technology, but still work well for consumers that prefer them.

Take Care of Those Chompers, Unless You Want Dentures

It can be easy to fall into a routine where even the most basic dental health tips that you’ve absorbed into your life fall by the wayside. One day of eating your favorite sugary foods turns into three or four, and by the time you’re able to say “cavity” you might well be on your way to a full-blown ordeal. This is especially true when thinking about dental health care for kids, who are known to get into sweets and not let go! But with a little bit of monitoring and a dash of education, you can help instill lifelong habits that will actually pay dividends over time, if only in reduced dentist bills.

Remember that taking care of your mouth and teeth is also taking care of your body, and the benefits you reap up above will also translate down below. A healthy mind (and mouth) tend to work in tandem with everything else. You won’t read that in any dental health tips except for this one, so keep it close to your heart. Or perhaps blurt it out in public, so that everyone can finally see those shiny, pearly whites that you’ve worked so hard for.

Did you know what the single most common New Year’s resolution is? For 82% of people, their resolution is to make some kind of healthy life changes.

That’s a great resolution to have, but if you’ve ever set New Year’s resolutions yourself, you know how rarely they actually carry through into practice. Still, setting resolutions each and every year is a popular activity, because it gives people a chance to reimagine their life in a positive way.

Let’s face it: sometimes life gets boring. And that’s especially true if you’ve been stuck in the same routine for goodness knows how long. If you feel like it’s high time to shake things up and make a change in your life, you’re not alone.

Of course, not all life changes are necessarily positive, even when they’re self-imposed. So to inspire you with your own great ideas, here’s a list of four healthy life changes you can make, starting today.

Invest More Time in Your Oral Health

For the first of our healthy life changes to discuss, when was the last time you went to the dentist?

Getting dental care probably isn’t the first thing you think of when you consider ways to change up your normal routine (don’t worry, we’ll get into some more fun ideas later). But before you can enjoy your life to the fullest, it’s imperative that you be in good health. Plus, for all too many people, their normal routine involves actively ignoring signs that their health is failing or avoiding doing things to properly maintain their health. If that’s you, then the best healthy life changes you can make will involve prioritizing your health.

But why oral health, specifically, you ask? Because the health of your mouth and teeth offer clues about your overall health, and problems that start in the mouth can rapidly affect the entire body. This is why general dentistry is such an important part of regular healthcare, even for typically healthy people.

Like many parts of your body, your mouth is always teeming with bacteria. Before you freak out, recognize that most of those bacteria are harmless, and many are beneficial and even necessary. But some bacteria aren’t as necessary, or as friendly, and can cause disease. Add to that the fact that your mouth is the entry point for both your digestive system and your respiratory tract, and you can see exactly why oral health impacts the rest of your body so significantly.

Fortunately, your body has its own natural defense system to guard against rogue bacteria and diseases. Combined with proper oral healthcare, you should be able to avoid diseases caused by this bacteria without any issue. However, if you’re like many people, you may not brush your teeth twice each day, or even floss regularly. While brushing more than once daily might feel excessive, doing it twice isn’t that much more of a commitment, and the payoff can be huge. Flossing and using a high-quality mouthwash don’t take much time or effort, either, but they also go a long way to keeping your oral (and overall) health in line. Do some research and look for toothpaste and mouthwash made from gentle, healthy ingredients, and check out customer reviews before purchasing instead of mindlessly choosing whatever’s on the shelf.

Taking proper care of your teeth and your oral health at home is incredible, but even so, it can’t replace regular visits to your dental clinic. Besides having a big impact on your body’s overall health, your oral health is like a window into the condition of the rest of your body. Conditions like diabetes, HIV/AIDS, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and even certain cancers can all show early warning signs in your mouth, sometimes before they become noticeable anywhere else in your body.

This makes your personal dentist an important figure in your medical life. Not only will they provide deep cleanings for your teeth and monitor your oral health, but they may also pick up on early signs of disease that manifest in your mouth first. Of course, no one wants to think about that kind of thing. But if you were to get sick, you’d want to know sooner rather than later, while there’s a better chance at a speedy recovery.

Seek Any Medical Treatments You’ve Been Postponing

As we mentioned above, too many people actively avoid doing everything they should to care for their health, or seeking medical attention for ailments. For people like that, healthy life changes need to involve clear steps taken to improve their health and wellness.

Whether you were represented by a personal injury lawyer for an accident you haven’t fully healed from, or you’ve just started to notice a suspicious pain somewhere, postponing medical care is rarely wise. Yet people often avoid seeking medical treatment even when they suspect it might be necessary. In fact, according to a study published in 2014, almost one-third of all survey respondents reported that they actively avoided the doctor. Even people with serious health problems, who experience obvious symptoms of a severe condition, are known to avoid seeking medical care.

As you can imagine, avoiding medical care can result in late detection of disease, reduced survival, and prolonged suffering that might well have been preventable. Yet people who do it often feel that their reluctance to see a doctor is justified.

The study mentioned above sought to understand why people avoid medical care, and it came up with three major reasons:

1. About 33% of participants claimed to have unfavorable or distrusting views of doctors, healthcare organizations, and the medical industry.
2. Next, just over 12% said that they didn’t really feel the need to seek care, often because they expected their condition to improve over time on its own.
3. Lastly, many participants (around 58%) claimed to experience more economical barriers to seeking care, such as high cost of care, a lack of health insurance, or simply not enough time to go to the doctor.

Whether you need serious attention, like arthritis treatment, or you’re generally dealing with mild discomfort from an untreated medical problem, postponing or avoiding care can only lead to more discomfort. If you’re concerned about finding a doctor or healthcare service you can trust, you can seek referrals from your family, friends, and neighbors. You could also talk with a patient advocate or physician referral representative in your area. When you find a doctor that comes recommended highly, you can check their credentials through the American Medical Association or American Board of Medical Specialties. Finally, it’s a good idea to find a specialist for the condition you’re seeking treatment for, as they tend to be more knowledgeable and qualified for specific treatments than general practitioners.

If your hesitation to seek medical attention is because of financial constraints, you should look for an affordable health insurance plan that will cover the treatments you think you might need. A local social worker can help you figure out how to enroll in Medicare if you need to rely on government assistance.

Whatever you do, if you suspect you may need medical care, make it one of your healthy life changes today, whether you’re enrolling in Medicaid or going to the doctor. Life is too short to go through it in poor health, even if it’s only mild discomfort.

Go On an Adventure

The first two healthy life changes we discussed were strictly concerning your health and wellness. After all, while no one really enjoys going to the dentist or getting a physical exam, both are often a prerequisite for enjoying the rest of your life to the fullest extent possible. When you want to make a change to the way you live your life, often the best place to begin is your health and your diet.

But it can’t be all work and no play, so next on our list is going on an adventure: simply go somewhere. Like a responsible adult, of course — remember to bring things like a good poison oak rash remedy if you’re going out in nature — but choose a direction to go in and just go. You can plan ahead if you like, but if you really want to shake yourself out of your routine (and your comfort zone), be prepared to keep it flexible.

The only things you should decide for sure are how much money you’re allowed to spend and how much time you have before you must be back. Choose a time to start your return trip and make sure you can afford meals for that long, but then decide along the way where to go in between. Again, flexibility is key to adventure.

If you have a limited budget, determine what your spending priorities are. Do you hope to find some little-known restaurants to tantalize your tastebuds with, or is admission to all the state parks and tourist attractions in a 50-mile radius more important? You don’t have to decide exactly where to go to set a budget. Just set aside certain amounts of money for different categories.

Next, you should consider whether to go it alone or not. You can certainly adventure by yourself, but you will make it even more memorable by bringing a friend along with you. Of course, if you’re going on an actual adventure, such as rock climbing or snow skiing, bringing a partner would be a good idea for safety’s sake.

Make sure you bring a camera so you can capture some incredible memories. Just avoid using it too often. You want to see the beautiful views with your eyes, not just through the lens of your camera.

While you’re out, make it a point to talk to strangers. Yes, we’re instructing you to talk to strangers. You’re a grownup, it’s all right. Ask passers-by for their suggestions about where to go, what to see, and what the best places for food are in the area. When you walk into stores and restaurants, say a friendly word to the other customers and patrons there. Maybe ask them what their favorite book on the shelf in front of them is, or what they like most from the restaurant’s menu. Just avoid being a pest. You can tell when someone doesn’t feel like visiting.

With tips like these, you’ll be introducing some fun and healthy life changes before you know it.

Switch Up Your Environment or Move Somewhere New

Do you ever get tired of the house you’re living in? Maybe you once shared your current home with a toxic partner, or perhaps you even grew up in it, and staying there is making it hard to move on and create healthy life changes. Or maybe you’ve just been in one place for too long, and desperately need a change. Either way, whatever your financial constraints may be, there’s something you can do about it.

For starters, you can sell your house and move somewhere else. If you’ve lived in the same neighborhood all your life, maybe you just need a change of scenery. Selling and moving is a really big commitment, but it all depends on how much you think it would help, and how committed you are to creating healthy life changes for yourself.

Of course, if you’re like many people, you probably don’t feel like getting a new home is within your budget. But if you currently own a home, or even if you’re just renting, you might be able to save money and get a change of space by downsizing. Maybe your house is simply bigger than you need it to be, or maybe your apartment is too fancy or in an expensive area. The cost of living is cheaper in different places, and by settling for a slightly smaller, less luxurious home, you might be able to get one that’s perfect for you at a price you can afford. And if you currently own your home but you’re not sure where you want to live, you’re even better off: you can sell now, and use the money you make to rent cheap apartments here and there until you find a place you want to call home. Condos for sale on the waterfront will be calling your name.

But maybe you aren’t ready to move, and just want your house to feel different. If that’s the case, then there are plenty of things you can do to feel more at home in your home. The following are some fun ideas you can use to make your house feel more fresh and inviting:

• Install an indoor chair swing. It’s like a porch swing, but it hangs from your ceiling inside.
• Install an outdoor garden fountain. Nothing says tranquility like a fountain.
• Go green by bringing a bunch of plants indoors. House plants, of course.
• Upgrade your bedding, especially if you’ve been using the same sheets and blankets for forever.
• Get new dishes and silverware, and throw out or sell the ones you have. It’s an easy and impactful change.
• Buy a pretty bookshelf for your living room, and start collecting books.

Whether you put your house on the real estate or opt to simply redecorate, hopefully, these suggestions will have inspired you with your own ideas.

And there you have it: four ideas for healthy life changes you can implement in your life, starting today. Happy exploring!