Have you decided to try your hand at following through with New Year’s Resolutions?
Have you already hit the wall and realized that it’s much harder to keep them than you thought?
Well here are 5 tips to keep those resolutions this year!
1. Make realistic resolutions.
If you know that you struggle with eating healthy, don’t expect to suddenly not ever want to eat anything junky again. There is no way that you can suddenly stop eating all things that aren’t good for you overnight. It’s less likely to stick, and you’re more likely to not stick to your plans, fall off the wagon, feel disappointed, and eat worse than you did originally.
2. Make stepwise resolutions.
This means that you should make each step of a resolution separate. Going with the above example, make your resolutions to include: a) eating more fruits and veggies and/or b) drinking 8 glasses of water per day. If you break them down, although your resolutions may be big, break them down into steps that you can follow through with easily (or more easily).
3. Be gentle with yourself.
Like all mental health, you will have good days and bad days. This means that on the days that you don’t feel like working at your resolutions, you still have to put the work in to make the changes happen if you really want it to happen. But if you have a bad day and fall off the wagon, don’t be afraid to pick back up the next day.
4. Talk about it — ask for support (and help when you need it).
Resolutions are hard! But if you write them down, talk about them with friends, and reach out when you need help, you’re much more likely to succeed than you would if you tried to power through them yourself. If you have accountability by telling people your plans, it gives you a double reason to keep them.
5. Last but not least, take each day at a time.
You may have had a bad day — you may have decided that you are finished with your resolutions because you fell off the wagon and didn’t keep them. Well, just remember that each day is different — it starts over whenever you wake up. Even if you were unsuccessful the day before, it doesn’t mean that you have to be unsuccessful the next day.
Whatever your resolutions, just remember you can do it! With help, support, and being gentle with yourself (by taking each day at a time), you can conquer any New Year’s Resolutions that you may have wanted! Good luck!