When the clock strikes midnight when the new year comes, we all enjoy the moment and celebrate this day that is pregnant with new beginnings. But soon we are faced with that terrible question, what am I going to do in the new year?
These decisions can lead to all sorts of reactions, such as losing weight, exercising more, spending more time with your kids, saving more money, quitting smoking. Do all these wishes sound familiar to you? Our New Year’s Resolutions can be really diverse. One common element of all these decisions, however, is that they require a lot of hard work.
All the resolutions I have listed are pretty vague and not that specific, yet we always get them over and over again at the beginning of each year. My New Year’s resolution is to stay fit by doing sports, but I still haven’t started exercising for this. In fact, I feel bad because I can’t make this decision before Christmas comes. We may feel like we have failed when we cannot realize the decisions we have set.
Some of us may even have forgotten exactly what we chose as our decisions. For example, some studies show that pre-New Year’s gym memberships are increasing, but about 60% are unused. Despite this knowledge, joining the gym is still one of the most common New Year’s resolutions.
One of the problems with New Year’s Resolutions is that when we don’t fulfill them it can leave us feeling depressed, frustrated and sometimes angry, many of us see it as a sign of failure. One of the problems with New Year’s Eves is that they are often not specific, and research has shown that we are more likely to succeed or approach success if we set specific short-term goals.
more exercises
Rather than making a decision like doing something, it would be better to set a specific goal, for example: I will aim to exercise for 30 minutes in the afternoon, three days a week for the first month.
And then review your goal after that first month. If it didn’t go as planned, you can try out how to overcome any obstacles, you may even need to change the goal and then try again for the next month. Alternatively, if you have achieved this goal, be sure to congratulate yourself for your efforts. Setting achievable and specific short-term goals is often better than vague, open-ended goals because we can measure how we’re doing. However, it is important that we show ourselves compassion in implementing our decisions.
So take a look at your New Year’s Resolutions. Need to replace them with specific goals and start over for February? Then set new goals and as you review them, make sure you do it with some self-compassion.
I hope the new year will be a year where you progress in line with your goals and show compassion for yourself 🙏🎉
So what are your New Year’s Resolutions?
