6 Ways to Power Your New Year Reset

1. Give Back Without Burning Out

Giving back doesn’t have to mean overextending yourself. The key is finding opportunities that fit your time, energy and interests — whether you have a single day, a few hours a week or want to make an impact behind the scenes.

One powerful place to start is the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, which will be observed across campus on Jan. 16. This longstanding tradition brings the Triton community together to honor the life and legacy of the civil rights leader through service and reflection. This year, volunteers will partner with Webster Elementary School, leading interactive classroom activities to inspire leadership, compassion and civic responsibility. The day will close with a reflection and panel featuring UC San Diego students, alumni and community leaders sharing perspectives on continuing Dr. King’s fight against poverty and inequality. Campus community members can register to volunteer through Jan. 15.

For students looking for a manageable, longer-term way to give back, Community Pathways — coordinated through the Center for Student Involvement — offers short-term, quarter-long volunteer opportunities across San Diego. With just a two-hour weekly commitment, participants can explore service aligned with their interests, from education and public health to environmental work and basic needs, while building connections with fellow students.

Campus community members can also make a direct impact by supporting The Hub Basic Needs Center. Donating shelf-stable food items or hosting a small food drive helps keep the Triton Food Pantry stocked and ensures students have access to essential groceries — a simple, flexible way to support student well-being.

2. Move Your Body — But Make it Social

If sticking to a fitness routine has ever felt like a solo grind, this year’s reset might be as simple as finding movement that comes with built-in community.

Through UC San Diego Recreation, instructional classes offer a welcoming way to learn something new while connecting with others. Martial arts classes like karate and hapkido combine physical challenge with skill-building and discipline, creating a shared learning experience that naturally brings people together. Other instructional offerings — from swimming and archery to pickleball, dance and even aerial silks — make it easy to try movement that feels more like play than a workout.

For those who enjoy moving in a group setting, Pilates is one of Recreation’s most popular group fitness classes. Included with a REC membership, these classes focus on core strength, balance and flexibility while emphasizing breath and mindful movement. With unlimited weekly sessions and a wide range of formats, including yoga, cycling, barre, dance and boot camp, group fitness makes consistency easier and workouts more social.

Looking for the ultimate blend of fitness and connection? The Masters Swimming program brings together swimmers of all ages and abilities for structured workouts and a truly community-based environment. With multiple facilities and programs available to UC San Diego students — and to faculty, staff and affiliates with REC memberships — Recreation offers something for every schedule, interest and comfort level.

3. Protect Your Peace

Well-being isn’t just about responding to stress — it’s about building habits that help you stay grounded before things feel overwhelming.

The Willo app — developed by students, for students right here at UC San Diego — offers a personalized way to check in on your wellness and connect with curated campus resources that match your needs. One standout feature is the Willo Wellness Tree, which lets users track progress across multiple wellness areas by checking off completed events or activities. The app also organizes resources into themed collections, from stress management to social connection, helping students build healthier routines over time.

Those interested in deepening a mindfulness practice can explore offerings through the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness, which serves not only the campus community but also patients, educators, professionals and community members throughout the region. Rooted in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, the center offers a range of programs, from short introductory workshops to multi-week courses and one-on-one consultations, designed to support stress management, compassion and balance in everyday life.

4. Learn Something Totally Unrelated to Your Job or Major

Sometimes the most refreshing kind of learning is the kind that has nothing to do with your major or career — and everything to do with curiosity.

The UC San Diego Craft Center offers hands-on classes and workshops designed to help beginners and seasoned creatives alike try new skills in a low-pressure, welcoming environment. Housed in a reimagined 11,000-square-foot facility, the center invites students, staff, faculty and community members to work across a wide range of mediums — from wheel throwing and ceramic painting to woodworking, jewelry and glass art, culinary arts and even surfboard shaping. Led by experienced instructors who are masters of their crafts, classes are structured to encourage experimentation, creativity and learning by doing. 

If learning looks more like listening, asking questions or exploring big ideas, the newly launched campus calendar is an easy way to discover lectures, talks and seminars happening across campus — many of them free and open to the community. Public programs hosted through UC San Diego Extended Studies, including the Helen Edison Lecture Series and the Burke Lectureship on Religion and Society, regularly bring notable thinkers to campus and invite audiences to engage with ideas far outside their usual fields. 

5. Swap Screen Time for Game Time

Cutting back on screen time doesn’t have to mean going cold turkey — or swearing off every app, stream or game. Sometimes, the easiest way to unplug is to trade solo screen time for something more social.

One low-stakes way to do that this year is game night — especially with the campus featured prominently in the new San Diego edition of Monopoly. The board includes three dedicated property squares — UC San Diego, ArtsConnect and Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography — along with a UC San Diego-themed Community Chest card, placing the campus alongside other iconic regional destinations. Available for purchase at the UC San Diego Bookstore and the Birch Aquarium gift shop, it’s a playful, collectible way to bring campus pride home and share the UC San Diego story with friends and family.

Want to take game night beyond the living room — or find a new place to play on campus? University Centers has completed a renovation of the Price Center Gameroom, which offers plenty of in-person alternatives. Recently reopened on the building’s second floor, the revitalized space features air hockey, billiards, duckpin bowling, foosball, karaoke rooms, mahjong, ping-pong and a dedicated board game area, making it easy to build community and unwind face to face.

6. Say Yes to One Cultural or Arts Experience Each Month

It’s easy to think of arts and culture as something you’ll make time for later — off campus, another weekend, another season. But at UC San Diego, some of the most memorable experiences are already part of your everyday landscape. Much of that creative energy is brought together through ArtsConnect, an initiative designed to help the community discover and engage with arts programming across campus.

The Stuart Collection turns the campus itself into a living gallery, with 22 permanent works by internationally renowned artists woven throughout campus. Since its founding in 1981, the collection has turned everyday spaces into landmarks — from the winding “Snake Path” that climbs a hillside to “Fallen Star,” the bright blue house perched atop a building. A newer layer, “Inscape: Art and Mindfulness at the Stuart Collection,” adds an audio dimension to the experience, pairing each work with wellness-based reflections and original spoken-word compositions by artist Mashonda Tifrere to encourage a more intentional way of connecting with art.

That same sense of discovery extends to live performance. Through ArtPower, acclaimed artists regularly take the stage at venues like the Epstein Family Amphitheater and The Loft, bringing global sounds and ideas into familiar campus spaces. Just steps away, La Jolla Playhouse offers another reminder that UC San Diego isn’t just a place to study or work — it’s a place where new work in American theatre is created, tested and experienced, often at discounted rates for campus community members.

If you make space for just one cultural experience each month — a performance, an exhibition, a walk with fresh eyes — campus starts to feel less like a routine and more like a destination. The university’s events calendar is a simple way to see what’s happening and decide what to say “yes” to next.