If you’re a millennial who hasn’t heard of or used the term ‘adulting’ then you must be one of those mature millennials who acts like an adult 100% of the time and therefore doesn’t feel the need to call attention to adult-like behaviors. You see, ‘adulting’ is a made-up word that has become a trending term (complete with its own Instagram hashtag) which we use when making fun of ourselves when we’re low-key proud of ourselves for acting like an adult. Adulting infers a transitional phase in life where the benefits of making adult decisions are starting to be recognized as we late-bloomers start to (finally) act like an adult.

For those of us currently in this developmental phase, our New Year’s resolutions need to support a comfortable and successful transition into adulthood, so that we can stop making fun of ourselves for being degenerates and start reaping the benefits of full-time adulting. Those benefits, for the most part, involve a better quality of life. When you put in the time, effort, money and energy into upgrading certain things in your life, you’re usually doing it so that you can feel like more of an adult and improve your general quality of life. Some people postpone adulting as long as possible, and it might be because that grown up way of life is more expensive and requires more effort, which seems like a difficult change for us otherwise coddled millennials. Adults tend to do things like buy nice furniture, buy wholesome groceries on the regular, eat a nutritious breakfast, book their own dental appointments, wear shoes that actually support their feet, invest in a really good mattress – and the list goes on.

Yes, all of these types of things require money, organization and effort. However, change is good, and adulting leads to better living, which is why acting like an adult should be embraced instead of avoided. That being said, there are certain things you’ll need to upgrade this year, so that you can be better at adulting and enjoy the good life in 2018:

1. Your Groceries

It’s time to stop being lazy when it comes to food, because better nutrition – which is achieved through eating wholesome meals – contributes to better skin, more energy, higher productivity and a better mood. Stop eating sugary cereal for breakfast, and eat a bowl of nutritious muesli instead. Muesli is a healthy cereal-like breakfast that contains wholesome grains, superfoods, fruits, nuts and seeds. It’s about the same price as your favorite boxed cereal, but it’s significantly healthier. This is the type of breakfast that will boost your metabolism and energize your body. When it comes to dinner, stop heating up frozen burritos or making Kraft Dinner and start buying the groceries required to make a healthy stir fry from scratch. Let this be the year that your grocery list gets upgraded, so that you can finally start reaping the countless benefits of healthy and mindful eating.

2. Your Living Room

The living room is the gathering place and the area you host guests in – but it’s also the place where you chill out and relax when you need some ‘me’ time. In other words, your living room might need an upgrade this year in order to improve your home life. For example, you may want to mount your TV on your wall to create more space, or buy a WiFi extender to boost your WiFi so that your ‘home theatre’ has a high-quality Netflix connection. Or, perhaps you furnished your living room with second-hand furniture back when you first moved in and didn’t have much money. However, if you are now in a better financial position, you might want to think about upgrading your furniture.

Investing in a beautiful new sectional for your living room, for example, is a significant upgrade that will improve your home environment and make you feel more grown up. This change might even save you money, since truly enjoying your home and being house proud actually encourages you to stay in on Friday nights sometimes, which saves you money. When swapped my Craigslist couch for a beautiful Sophia Sectional from Rove Concepts, I noticed that I started feeling JOMO (Joy of Missing Out) when I decided to stay home, instead of FOMO (fear of missing out). This must be because I love my new living room so much, and I now greatly appreciate quiet nights in.

3. Your Mattress

I’m going to guess that many of you are sleeping on a not-so-great mattress. A quality mattress is one of the best investments you can make as an adult, and one of the most important upgrades for your home. Quality mattresses are directly correlated to better sleep, and we all know how important sleep is. The award-winning Casper mattress upgrade your sleep quality with its extremely comfortable and supportive layers of high-density memory foam that support pressure points. Its transition layer allows for deep comfort and an even weight distribution. Unlike other mattresses, Casper’s memory foam has breathable cooling technology, designed for a cool and comfortable sleep. If you want 2018 to promise better quality of sleep, less pain and a lot more comfort, this mattress might be the perfect upgrade for you.

4. Your Air

The air your breathe each day in your home should be top-quality, especially since you’re breathing it in every day. Many of you likely haven’t thought of this one, but the air in your apartment might be full of dust, allergens or worse – it’s dry. Especially in the winter, we tend to blast the heat and that circulates dry air which causes a sore throat, a hoarse voice and super dry skin. Yes, that’s right. While you sleep, the air is drying out your skin and causing you to wake up with a sore throat. For better air quality and better health in 2018, please buy yourself a humidifier to add some moisture to the air in your home! Be careful, as some humidifiers can add moisture to the air while also breeding bacteria. Dyson humidifiers add moisture to the air and kill bacteria (purify the air) at the same time.

In addition to that humidifier, get yourself an aromatherapy diffuser and some Saje essential oils. Saje has blends that are specifically formulated to improve your mood, reduce stress, and make you feel great. The Saje diffuser will add an aroma to the air that will enhance your sense and boost your mood. You can switch the essential oils being diffused depending on whether you need mental focus, energy, a calming relaxation, or a happy euphoria.

5. Your Shoes

You walk every single day of your life (I hope) so a good pair of shoes is essential. And yet many of us keep buying crap shoes simply because they look fashionable and cute. There are proper shoes that still look cute, though. Miz Mooz, for example, is a renowned shoe company that has always been committed to the principle that fashion and comfort can happily coexist, that you don’t have to sacrifice form for function. If your shoes don’t provide the right support for the arches of your feet and your heels, your feet won’t properly function while you walk, which means other body parts will overcompensate. This leads to pain and injury. For the sake of your body’s functionality, strength and performance, please upgrade your shoes!

6. Your Attitude

A better life requires a more positive outlook on life, a better mood, and a better attitude. Some people have a more positive outlook on life than you, but why? Why do some people find it so much easier to focus on the positive and count their blessings instead of counting their problems? The answer is gratitude.  If you can learn to be grateful for what you do have in the new year, instead of focusing on what you want to have, your life will be significantly improved.