Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions in Perspective with These Mental Health Tips
Jake Newby
| 4 min read
It’s perfectly healthy to charge into the new year with goals, optimism and ambition. But navigating New Year’s resolutions can feel like walking a tight rope. If you fall short or feel pressure to accomplish your goal, your mental state can take a hit. Before you etch those resolutions in stone, consider being kind to your mind with this guidance.
The pressure behind New Year’s resolutions
New Year’s resolutions typically revolve around self-improvement. We want to succeed professionally, improve our physical and mental health and make changes to our relationships. We’re optimistic we can achieve anything we set our minds to on Jan. 1.But as the days go by and expectations start to feel lofty, it’s common to experience lowered self-esteem followed by feelings of stress and anxiety.
Some of this pressure might be applied subconsciously and by external factors. For example, if a friend just earned a promotion at work, maybe you set a resolution to earn one yourself. The pressure to match others' success can lead to more stress and cause you to feel overwhelmed. Or you may set out to lose weight after weeks and months of scrolling through social media and negatively comparing yourself to people on your feeds.
In some cases, New Year’s resolutions are unrealistic for reasons beyond your control. Failing to achieve some goals – like earning that promotion – shouldn’t necessarily reflect poorly on your effort to follow through.
For these reasons and more, it’s important to create an action plan, especially one that prioritizes your mental health. Motivation follows action, after all.
How to create New Year’s resolutions that prioritize your mental well-being
Figure out your “why”: You are likelier to follow through on a resolution that you want to accomplish. Don’t just choose a resolution to choose one, especially if it’s one you aren’t excited to pursue or feel external pressure to pursue. If your goal is to start going to the gym routinely, decide if you want to do that to lose a specific amount of weight, live longer, mitigate a chronic condition, or improve your fitness ahead of a special event. Take the bigger picture into account. You may even want to start a resolution journal and write about why achieving this goal is important to you and how it will positively impact your life.
Break down big goals into smaller ones: If your goal is to start going to the gym, don’t put pressure on yourself to go on the first 20 straight days of the month. Start by going twice a week, then three times a week, then four times a week and so on. If your resolution is to cut down on your screen time, start with five fewer minutes a day then chip away from there.
Set a different starting date: There’s no law that says you must start your New Year’s resolution on Jan 1. You have an entire year to make important changes to your life. Additionally, the holiday hangover can be real. Many of us eat poorly, drink too much alcohol and drift from our normal sleep schedules during the holiday. Try getting those areas of your life back on track after the new year and tackle your resolution after that. Pursuing a resolution the second the clock strikes midnight can be mentally daunting for some.
Take pride in progress: You may find that you’re doing all the right things as you march to your weight loss goal, only to step on a scale and see you’ve lost two pounds in one month, when your goal was to lose five. Rather than letting that deter you, you should be positive about it. Acknowledge that the two pounds you lost were two more than you lost in December, when you weren’t trying to lose weight. Aim for progress, not perfection.
Practice self-compassion: If your goal is to quit smoking cigarettes and you smoke one after abstaining for 10 days, acknowledge that you are only human, and setbacks happen. Instead of bailing on your resolution, take some deep breaths, take pride in the progress, dust yourself off and keep at it. Show yourself grace and forgiveness throughout the year.
Related:
- Tips for Coping with Less Daylight
- Mental Health vs. Mental Illness
- What is an Overactive Nervous System?
Photo credit: Getty Images
