New year has finally arrived! And setting a resolution means you have a plan for the new year. You know what you want your life to look like over the upcoming 12 months, and you’ve set actionable goals to achieve it. And most of the time, these resolutions revolve around health. Maybe you want to hit the gym twice a week? Maybe you want to eat better by cutting something out of your diet entirely? Whatever it is, this is where you make the promise to at least try!
However, sometimes we set these goals at lofty heights, or maybe even a little too vaguely. It’s hard to reach for something when you’re not sure how to even make steps towards it! And when it comes to your health, you’re likely to make hundreds of different promises to yourself about the ways you want to change it.
But when you do, you set yourself back. You make it harder to make progress simply because you don’t know what to focus on and/or how to get there. As such, your healthy new year’s resolution might not be so good for you. But we can make it better; check out the points below to help you define your health goals in a more practical way.
Progress is Slow and Requires Patience
When it comes to health, things are slow to change. Remember this. Not seeing results quite yet is not bad news. You just need a bit more time, and you have plenty of that right now. Take it slow, but be consistent, and things will change.
Don’t Cut a Habit with No Replacement
If you want to try and cut out a bad habit in January, don’t simply go cold turkey. Ideas such as ‘Dry January’ are good in theory, but they can be hard to keep up with because people take them at face value. No more drinking for the month and just get on with life!
However, what are you supposed to do instead? Indeed, how can you actually remove the compulsion to pour a quick glass of wine after work? By replacing it with something else to do. Cook something nice for dinner, make tasty mocktails, or take up another hobby that requires your whole attention.
Or if you want to stop smoking, you can invest in a vape instead of smoking cigarettes; you’ll even find more variety in flavours and types, such as raspberry or watermelon, or you can try out Delta 8 Vapes and see how they affect you.
Take Interruptions with a Pinch of Salt
If you’re trying to conquer a bad habit, or you want to make new healthy habits, forgive yourself for missing a day here and there. Interruptions to your new routine aren’t going to put you off entirely, but they will if you let them!
It’s alright to have ‘cheat days’ and a bit of fun here and there. And if you decide to beat yourself up for missing a Yoga session or having one too many pizza slices at dinner, you’re not going to motivate yourself to recommit. You’re more likely to tear yourself down and make yourself wonder what it was all worth in the first place.
Commit for the Right Reasons
If you want to make a health related resolution because of someone else, you may not be able to commit to it at all. The more we put the motivation ‘out there’, the more we’re likely to give up and try again next year. After all, the source of the want to be healthier just isn’t coming from you!
So if you do want to lose weight, or try a new diet, or visit the gym more often, do it for you. Not the way other people may see you, or simply because you think you should. A good goal comes from inside, and the more you actually want to do something, the more you’ll do it – simple as!
All in all, setting healthy resolutions can be good for you, as long as you know what you’re trying to do. ‘Lose some weight’ or ‘eat better’ are just too vague and won’t get you anywhere!
While it might feel good to make that resolution, you’ll soon give it all up. We don’t blame you for doing so – you’ve got no motivating milestones to hit! Align your goals with both yourself and a plan you can put down on paper. You’ll find it much easier to get things done.
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