Every year as the last few months roll around, the holiday season begins. The holiday season is a time of excitement, celebration, and making memories with family and friends. However, the holidays can trigger stress as you navigate social events, traveling arrangements, shopping excursions, and pin down plans. Feelings of loneliness and sadness can be pronounced if you are unable to be with loved ones or feel you cannot meet high expectations. The holidays are also a time of excessive food and alcohol intake and money spent. It is common to overindulge, anticipating gaining back control of decadent and atypical behaviors once the holiday season is over and the New Year begins.
New Year’s Day marks the end of the holiday season and commemorates rejuvenation and renewal. To celebrate the beginning of a new year, many make a New Year’s resolution: a specific goal aimed at improving yourself for the upcoming year. Resolutions are often commitments to change a part of one’s lifestyle, such as losing weight, getting healthy, quitting smoking, volunteering more, spending less money, and becoming more environmentally responsible.
A new year signifies a fresh start and a chance to reform and make things right. The intoxicating idea of positive change and growth is especially motivating. Unfortunately, sticking to the demands of a New Year’s resolution is far more difficult than merely making an oath, leading to loss of inspiration. Often, New Year’s resolutions are quickly forgotten or ignored. Focus on achievable goals and seek support from family and friends to transform your New Year’s resolution from an idea into an accomplishment.
Below are a few tips to help you create and stick to an appropriate New Year’s resolution:
- Make sure you are internally motivated and ready to change
- Set a specific and reasonable resolution with results that can be measured
- Write it down to remind yourself and make it concrete
- Share your resolution with people around you who will support you and hold you accountable
- Develop a plan to reach your goal and continually track your progress
- Don’t become discouraged if you don’t see instant results; change is more successful when it is gradual
- Recognize mistakes as a part of the changing process and not as failure; learn from them and move on
|
