When New Year’s Resolutions Make You Feel Like Shit.
New Year’s Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. After the fast paced, indulgent, and extroverted times of the rest of the holiday season, New Year’s Day has always felt like the beginning of a refreshing rest. For introverts like me, it is the most welcome day of the year.
Many people approach the New Year with a sense of wanting to make the changes that will improve their lives. Some do, and some don’t. This is largely due to the way in which the goals that people set are, well set. Say that after a fight with your drunk uncle at Christmas that involved some threat of violence, you set the goal of cutting off toxic family members. You’ll likely start trying to determine who is toxic, how large the problem is, who can reasonably be cut off, what support you’ll have, and if the process can really be done in one year. These goals tend to work, minus any unexpected roadblocks.
Most people’s New Year’s Resolutions tend to look more like, “I’m going to get in shape this year!” Cool statement, but you’ll be setting yourself up for failure. First, what does it mean to be in shape? Without a clear idea, like lifting 200lbs, you can never actually hit that goal, so you’ll be setting yourself up to fail. The other main problem with this is that there’s no “why” behind it. What will actually change about your life about getting into shape? If there’s no clear payoff OR reaching the goal will not actually fix the problem, then it’s unlikely you’ll stick to it, and even if you reach that goal, it will still feel like a let down.
Some tips to Setting healthy and attainable New Year’s Resolutions:
Understand your WHY. Without strong motivation, most hard goals will be too overwhelming to stick to.
Make sure that what you’re suggesting can actually be completed by January 1, 2025. Going from couch potato to marathon runner in that time doesn’t get done safely.
Make sure that you have a plan of how you reach the goal, and that the plan will work. A night owl will not be at the gym consistently at 05:00am. It never happens.
Make sure your plan is something that can be reviewed monthly. Planning to check in once a month and make adjustments will allow you to adjust for barriers that come up
Make sure you have a very specific wording. There’s a big difference between saying I’m going to become a runner, and I’m going to run my first 10k.
Happy New Year Everyone!
Cally & Zelda