Healthier alternatives to New Year's Resolutions

Healthier Alternatives to New Years Resolutions

Happy 2026 everyone!

New Years Resolutions-I don't know anyone who is a fan. It's too much pressure, the goals usually aren't realistic or achievable, and we are often inadvertently just setting ourselves up to fail, which only compounds self limiting beliefs. Given that we're just hitting the frosty depths of winter and have only just gotten through Christmas, it is not the time to put undue stress on ourselves!

The winter traditionally isn't a time to suddenly put a bunch of new plans into action. It's a good time though to rest, reflect and recooperate. There are kinder alternatives to New Year's resolution's that can be much more positive, uplifting and realistic, especially when living with mental and physical health issues. The more active aims can be left for the warmer months when the body isn't in hibernation mode!

Here are some good suggestions I've found online:

🗓️Having a word of the year: setting a theme for the year like rest, peace, or courage can be a nice way to get your brain focused on a quality you'd like more of, so you can then reflect on how you might go about embodying that word. Alternatively you could have a different word for each month or for each season if that feels right for you, given that different times of the year have different qualities

🚫Schedule Do Nothing Months: the winter is a great time of year to do nothing! It's what the body naturally wants to do during the cold months anyway. There's nothing wrong with pressing pause and taking time to rest. Rest is an activity in and of itself, and one of the greatest acts of self care we can do!

❌ Anti-Resolutions: do you have goals you set yourself each year, only to find you run out of steam after a bit and wind up feeling worse for having set them at all? This cycle of disappointment, self flagellation and avoidance is a common theme with resolutions. Instead, set an anti-resolution to deliberately give yourself a year off from those aims. Taking the pressure off can actually make it much easier to have a go at one of them at some point, especially if you frame them as experiments, as in the next example. It's also valid to just let them go completely for the year if they are only causing you suffering.

🧪New Years Experiments: rather than setting hard and fast goals, have some New Years Experiments you'd like to try, like painting, writing or taking a course. Engaging in novel activities is great for rewiring the brain as it promotes neuroplasticity, which is crucial for healing on all levels. Approach them with curiousity rather than with pressure and force, and without any expectations. If you still meet some resistance with this low stakes way of engaging in new activities, remind yourself of why it is you want to do them in the first place, rather than focusing on the effort you'd need to expend to do them.

😃Write a Joy List: think of all of the fun and enriching things you'd like to do over the year. Maybe you'd like to take a day trip to a different bit of the country or travel abroad, go to the theatre or see some stand up comedy. Whatever adventures appeal to you, having stuff to look forward to and a focus on the positive is really good for improving outlook and mood.

🤏Mini goals: if you have something you'd like to achieve in the year, split it up into small, manageable tasks that are easy to do and set you up for a positive feedback loop of a sense of achievement and greater self confidence. And if those mini goals seem too big, split them up into even smaller ones!

⚕️Healthy Pleasures: we are not the things we achieve, and our worth is not derived from our output and productivity. Rather than focusing on projects and goals, instead think of healthy pleasures you can bring into your life. Maybe it's having a monthly massage, a weekly walk in the woods, or trying some new vitamins and supplements. Focusing on our wellbeing and restorative practices can be much better for us overall.

Let's meet and discuss alternatives to New Year's Resolutions. Which of these ideas do you like the sounds of? Have you come across any others? Maybe you'd like to try some of them! If even these seem too much or just not your cup of tea, that's alright too. All perspectives are welcome.

I look forward to seeing you then!

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