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Weekly 5: New year, old goals
Many people consider the New Year a new beginning as they set new goals after evaluating their old ones
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Many people consider the New Year a new beginning as they set new goals after evaluating their old ones. These goals usually range from having to do with personal improvement to professional achievement. Here are five spots Jakartans can frequent to help achieve their New Year resolutions.
Fitness centers
Weight gain is a common issue for people in big cities who lack exercise and are exposed to unhealthy food. It is no wonder that the wish to lose a few kilograms every year is a common resolution. One of the ways to reach weight-loss goals is by hitting the gym.
Fitness centers in the city have been mushrooming since 2008, with outlets in almost all shopping centers and malls that have flexible schedules and offer a variety of classes.
Fitness First marketing executive officer Indra Syafnir said on Thursday that the number of his club subscribers usually increased by 20 to 30 percent around the start of the New Year and Ramadhan.
'Those are the times when people usually start getting motivated to hit the gym,' he said.
Indra said his clubs had either reached or surpassed their marketing targets in December as many Jakartans had signed up to start exercising in January.
Nutritionists
In the quest to adopt healthy lifestyles, many people have opted to consult with a nutritionist to tailor diet plans.
Nutritionists can be found in hospitals and beauty clinics that provide slimming programs.
Nutritionist Yustina Anie Indriastuti said consulting with a nutritionist was a must for people who want to start dieting, especially those who suffer from specific ailments or irregularities.
'Everybody has a different body type that will react differently to certain kinds of treatments, including dieting,' she said.
Yustina said careless dieting could have a bad impact on your body.
If going to hospitals is too much work, people who want to start dieting can try consulting through online services.
Many nutritionists and diet experts have Twitter accounts, blogs and websites where they post suggestions, and share knowledge and tips for free. They also actively answer questions from their followers.
Places of Worship
Besides worldly goals, becoming more spiritual is also a common resolution. Hence, new faces will be seen in mosques, churches and other places of worship in the beginning at the start of the year.
Ratri Oktari, 28-year-old copy writer, said she motivated herself to be closer to God by bringing a mukena (head-to-toe women's praying cloak) to her office but she rarely used it.
'I want to be more pious this year,' she said, adding that she would consider taking part in her local mosque's weekly informal Koran recitation group.
Banks
Jakarta is arguably a consumptive city. Although the salaries of Jakartans are higher than residents of other cities, their living costs are also higher.
Increasing savings is a common goal of urbanites. Jakartans usually have more than one bank account. Some use them to access certain discounts offered by various merchants but others use them to separate their savings and funds for monthly expenses.
People who like taking risks don't only save their money but also invest. Banks usually have other products like mutual funds, gold investments and deposits.
Language courses
With a growing middle class, more Jakartans are traveling. Hence, mastering one or two foreign languages has also become a trend.
Besides international lingua franca such as English and French, Jakartans are also starting to look into Asian languages such as Korean, Japanese and Mandarin. ' JP
