Are you ready to leave 2022 behind? Ready to make that change in 2023? We are too! The end of the year gives us time to reflect on the good times and the not so good times. It even gives us a chance to prepare ourselves for the new year and set new challenges. This is when New Year’s Resolutions come to play. But if research on habit change is any indication, only about half of New Year’s resolutions are likely to make it out of January, much less last a lifetime.(Oscarsson et al., 2020)
History of New year resolutions-
The New Year's resolutions have existed for quite a long time. A 1671 entry from the diaries of Anne Halkett, a writer and member of the Scottish gentry, contains a few pledges, typically taken from biblical verses such as “I will not offend any more”. Halkett titled this page “Resolutions”, and wrote them on January 2nd, which would possibly indicate that the practice was in use at the time, even if people did not refer to it as a New Year’s resolution.
Types-
New Year’s resolutions typically involve one of three wishes-
- The wish to stop avoiding something (getting rid of all the junk in your inbox).
- The wish to stop doing something that makes you feel good (eating, drinking, smoking).
- The wish to start doing something that doesn’t come naturally to you (journal, express gratitude, exercise).
Why do we make New year resolutions?
‘Fresh start effect ‘idea that a person can disassociate their past performance outcomes from current ones. Temporal landmarks act as a kind of mental reset button to help get us back on track and get us focused on our most cherished goals.
Psychologists have found that, rather than seeing our life as a continuum, we tend to see our life in form of different chapters. People are more likely to pursue new habits (e.g., dieting, exercising, goal pursuit) at the start of “new epochs” initiated by the some ‘Temporal landmarks’, including the beginning of a new week, month, year, and school semester, as well as immediately following a public holiday, a school break, or a birthday.
- Definition- Temporal landmarks, or distinct events that “stand in marked contrast to the seemingly unending stream of trivial and ordinary occurrences that happen to us every day”
Temporal landmarks psychologically disconnect us from our inferior, past self and make us feel superior. We get motivated to behave better than we have in the past and strive with more enthusiasm to achieve our aspirations.
How to stick back to your new year resolutions?
Research has highlighted two potential pitfalls with New Year’s resolutions.
- Lacking the confidence to invest in a full-fledged effort, failure to achieve the goal may become a self-fulfilling prophesy.
- You perceive progress as unacceptably slow or inadequate, you may abandon the effort. (Rössner et al., 2011)
As a Psychotherapist I know that people don't change their lives until they're ready. Recognizing the problem is only part of the process. It's not enough to acknowledge you want to change. You have to decide that the pros of changing your life outweigh the cons of staying the same.
According to the transtheoretical model of change, there are five basic stages you'll pass through before creating a change in your life (like giving up smoking or starting a new diet):
- Precontemplation: You deny having a problem, but other people may be concerned.
- Contemplation: You think about the pros and cons of change.
- Preparation: You take steps to get ready to make a change.
- Action: You change your behaviour.
- Maintenance: You figure out how to stick to your change over the long-term.
💡Start Your Resolution When You're Ready Rather than launching your resolution on January 1st, decide you'll change your habits when you're ready to commit. Access your willingness whether you want to make different choices in a certain area. If you really don’t want to spend less time on social media, don’t make that a resolution. Chose resolutions that really matter to you and where you have a strong “why.” For example, maybe you really do want to lose weight because you want to have more energy, or you want to keep up with your kids or you want to look fantastic for a wedding. Having a compelling reason is the most important part of a successful ‘New year resolution’.
Without examining where we are resistant to change ... the cycle of resolve, relapse, repeat continues year after year.- Britt Frank
author : Kanishka
Clinical and Forensic Psychologist .