By Dustin Boudreau, Health and Wellness Columnist
Here we are again, a few weeks to go until the New Year – and probably some New Years resolutions, right? But what makes New Years special that we tend to make new commitments to start good habits and break bad habits? At 12:01am on January 1st, there is no reset that happens, no change in the world – the only difference is that we then must remember to write a new number down when inputting the year on documents.
I have mentioned the time and commitment it takes to instill good behaviours and habits – it can be work (but as my pop says, things that take time are appreciated the most). In fact, less than 50% of people make resolutions, and of those who do, less than 10% succeed in accomplishing those resolutions. Now, this article isn’t to discourage you from making positive goals – its more of a guide to help start and achieve them.
Some of the top resolutions people make are to; stop or cut back on drinking, eat healthier, and exercise more. December is a month full of decadent food, social get togethers, and adjusting to the earlier nights – so it makes sense why people tend to wait until after Christmas to begin their resolutions. This becomes a “I know I will be giving up all these sweets and drinking in a few months, so I will enjoy it now” kind of thing. People don’t like to sacrifice things and going from one hundred to zero over one night really is a hard thing to do – we go from enjoying to sacrificing, and then guilt or punishment when we break the resolution(s).
Let’s set this New Year up for success with some helpful tips to achieve our resolutions.
1: Pick one resolution to do – more than one resolution can become a chore and take time away from us, which causes us to give up.
2: Begin working on that resolution now – slow and steady wins the race. Making small changes over December will help instil those good behaviours and will not seem like a daunting 180 degree turn on January 1st.
3: Keep a journal or log or your progress – this will provide you with progress, so if you “fall off the wagon” so to speak, its not a “I failed, I give up”, it’s a “I made great progress and its ok if I stumbled because I know I can do this, as I already have show I can”.
4: Don’t be hard on yourself – we are all human and we all fail sometimes. What is important is that we learn from our failures to better ourselves and do better next time.
Enjoy this time of year, give to those who are less fortunate, and spend time with family and friends.
Photo by Polina Kovaleva: https://www.pexels.com/photo/red-notebook-on-the-table-5717451/
