As the new year begins in full swing, we are confronted with the dreaded “New Year’s resolutions.” If you’re anything like me, a new year means new anxieties and a feeling of an unfulfilled previous year. As 2023 ends and 2024 begins, we are reminded of the things left undone last year that we promised we would.
In my most humble opinion, New Year’s resolutions suck. Resolutions offer no longevity or sustainability. They force us to make a drastic change on Jan. 1 that rarely ever sticks around until Dec. 31.
So, to combat my intense feelings of existential dread and “what the hell am I doing with my life” as a 20-year-old in this glorious new year, I am here to help walk you through four tips on achieving those goals you’ve been working towards.
These tips reinvent the idea of the New Year’s resolution, offering you a brand new outlook on committing to the goals that will benefit you in 2024.
- Take the pressure off
-
My first tip is to eliminate the word “resolution” entirely. The word feels like a promise that must be completed, as if there is an end goal — completely perfected in 365 days.
Sure, some goals have end dates, but most are continuous and ongoing changes that must be made to one’s life.
To begin planning your 2024, I suggest adopting the terms “goal” or “lifestyle change.” Goals and changes can be revamped and revised when needed and lay a malleable foundation for what you want your year to look like. By changing your vocabulary around your vision for 2024, you take the pressure off, leading to better results in the end.
For example, instead of the resolution “I want to lose weight this year,” try “I want to try to go to the gym twice a week and eat vegetables with at least one meal a day.”
This goal is so much easier to work on as it offers a concrete plan for how to fulfill what you’re aiming for in the new year, and can be changed as your year progresses.
- LEss is more
-
A lot of the time, we put high stakes into our resolutions. We tend to have an “all or nothing” or “go big or go home” mindset when approaching a new year. Goals can only be truly accomplished when we make small, progressive adjustments to our lives, not huge, life-altering ones.
If one of your goals is to drink less in 2024, but you’re currently having a drink with dinner every day and going out every weekend, it’s going to be hard to quit drinking altogether. You may go completely sober for January and February but eventually slip up and drink on a friend’s birthday in March. When this happens, you’ll feel like you’ve failed, as you might overdo it.
Instead, maybe try Dry January. Sober curiosity is a great way to assess your relationship with alcohol and what you use it for, allowing you to revise how much you drink. When you start small, you’re able to manage more easily, positively impacting the rest of your year and even the rest of your life.
- Be gracious with yourself
-
Mistakes are normal. Slip-ups are normal. Setback is normal.
This is your first time living, and you’re going to mess up your goals at one point or another — whether it be in 2024 or any other year in the future. Be patient and gracious with how long it takes you to complete a goal. You may not journal every single day this year if that’s one of your goals, and that is completely okay.
When a setback occurs, readjust what you’re doing instead of getting down on yourself and quitting altogether. Nothing is as serious as it feels, trust me. Life is all about handling redirection.
- Have fun with it
-
Duh!
“Working on yourself” should be fun. When we pour love and commitment into bettering ourselves and our lives, it should be celebrated. Instead of going to the gym for two hours a day, seven days a week, take a dance class or go swimming with a friend. Start a book club with your besties. Plan monthly dinners with that person you don’t see enough of. Adopt a dog. IDK, maybe not.
For some odd reason, a new year makes us feel like there are things we need to change or “fix” about ourselves. Whether it be losing weight, reading 100 books a year, or quitting something, New Year’s resolutions force us to make a hard and fast promise to ourselves to do a complete 180 degrees on our behaviour and lives in the next 12 months. It forces us to feel bad enough about ourselves to promise to complete something in a short time. And if we do not complete this resolution, we feel like we have failed.
I’m over it. Let’s change how we think about resolutions and how we speak to ourselves as we progress through this new year. In 2024, I suggest that we learn to have fun in the process of working on our goals, not just at the end when we’ve completed everything we want to.
Be present in the good things that are already here and excited for the great things that are coming.