New Year’s resolutions are a common tradition in which individuals give themselves one, or often a whole list of pledges to fulfil for the upcoming year. Whether people actually carry them out, though, is another thing altogether.
There’s always the expectation that you must stick to a New Year’s resolution and that failing, even for a day, means you might as well give up. But the thing is, its inevitable that you slip up at some point.
Turning around and changing an ingrained habit in one night is difficult and, for some of us, even impossible. And the perceived implications of not sticking to our resolution shroud us in guilt for the best part of January every year.
Well, I’m here to tell you that not sticking to a resolution does not mean you’re a failure.
It simply means that you need to think about how achievable your goal actually is, and whether expecting immediate change, rather than gradual change to reach an ultimate goal, is realistic.
To get you started, here are some things you might want to think about before giving yourself a New Year’s resolution this time around:
Start slowly
One of the main reasons New Year’s resolutions seem to go down the drain is because as soon as the clock strikes twelve, we’re expected to immediately and religiously stick to the goal we’ve set for ourselves.
And doing that is difficult for a lot of people.
Instead of delving in too deep straight away, think of how you can make your goal approachable. Start with the little things that lead up to the achievement of a final goal, remembering that any step you take, no matter how small, is still a step. You ran for 5 minutes? That’s great, yesterday you didn’t run at all! You wrote 10 words for that novel you keep saying you’re going to finish? That’s ten more words than yesterday!
Be proud of yourself for these things – it’s still something you’ve done that will help you towards your goal.
Reward yourself
Not to get all Pavlovian, but treating yourself for positive behaviour is going to make it easier to continue doing that behaviour.
The determination it takes to set a goal, let alone actually complete it, is an achievement, and rewarding yourself for whatever you achieve is going to make you feel proud of yourself – as you should!
It doesn’t have to be anything big – sometimes just some words of encouragement to yourself can go a long way.
Cut yourself some slack
If you fall flat on a resolution or something goes wrong, try not to feel bad about yourself. Look back on everything great you have done, instead. It is not the end of the world if you mess up for a day, a couple of days, or even the whole year – your worth is not defined by it, and there will always be another opportunity to achieve it down the line (if you even still want to).
Do it for yourself
Are you setting this goal for yourself? Or do you feel like you’ve been pressured into it by other people or society and their expectations of you?
The only person that matters when you set goals for yourself is you. Don’t let others and their skewed impressions of what you should and shouldn’t be influence any of your goals. Do this because you want to, not because you’ve been told that you want to.
In truth, there are no real criteria for making a good resolution – it’s subjective and different for everyone. But the start of a New Year should promise progression and healthy change, not artificial and toxic correction. Approach the year with yourself, your goals, and your health in mind, and make sure to be proud at the end of it.