WRITING|CREATIVE WRITING|RESOLUTIONS|NEW YEAR

Why New Year Resolutions Don’t Work in the Long Term

Play it quick and short and your game will grant you better rewards

You’ve drafted up your list and this time you’re sticking to your targets. How many times have you been here before? You lost count. In fact, that in itself becomes a New Year’s resolution. Keep count of how many times you’ve concocted New Year’s resolutions. Put them on a spreadsheet and keep them in mind.

But I digress.

You’ll run a marathon in 2024. Or even better, you’ll enter Ironman. You’ll give one of the new diet fads a go. This time you’ll stick it out. Because you’re not a quitter, you’re a fighter. You’ll stop smoking and you’ll even do it without transitioning to vaping first. Cold turkey all the way. That’s your strategy.

Bollocks. Pardon my French, but that’s a load of old bollocks. And you know it, your friends know it, even your seven-month-old nephew knows it. That’s why he waits until you’re holding him to soil his nappy. Without the privilege of spoken language yet, babies have to express their opinions any way they can.

It’s easy to make New Year resolutions. Between the office party’s hard-to-avoid strategically placed mistletoe and your dysfunctional family’s ill-conceived Christmas gathering, you’ve had plenty of time to reflect on how you want your next twelve months to shape up.

This is where a self-improvement mindset kicks in and very often implausible targets are thought of. Vagueness is enemy number one of consistency. Remember that. “Getting fit” or “eating (more) healthily” mean nothing unless they are accompanied by a tangible set of achievable tasks. The how, when, and why are as important as the what.

As well as vagueness there’s also the boot camp approach. Usually served with Americanisms such as “You got this!”, “No pain, no gain!”, or the Nike-inspired “Just do it”. The tattooed swoosh is optional. This approach is a recipe for disaster. If you’ve binged on food in your life so far, what’s to stop you from bingeing on diets, and ultimately on guilt?

Let’s pause, breathe deeply and think about the time of the year when most people make their resolutions. It’s not just the start of a new year, but also a winter month with still long nights and short days. Pretty depressing, isn’t it? It’s not until early March when we begin to see days lengthening again. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have New Spring Resolutions instead?

Instead of thinking of running a full marathon, wouldn’t it be better to walk 1,000 steps every day? Then, eventually move on to run a couple of miles. Or better, run a couple of miles and walk a few hundred steps afterwards. As a four-marathon runner, I can tell you that when the going gets tough and you’re approaching your 21st or 22nd mile with knackered legs, that walking practice will come in handy.

Instead of starting a new diet, go out and set yourself the target of saying hello to at least ten strangers. Weight worries and food anxiety are not only physiological phenomena, but also emotional. Many of us live in developed nations, yet, we’re isolating ourselves more and more. Socialising (even when you’re an introvert) is a great way of keeping our angst at bay.

Focus less on results and more on enjoyment. Maybe you walked only 500 steps today. That’s 500 steps you had not walked last year at this point. Pat yourself on the back. Try to remember what you saw on your walk.

You don’t have to keep up the whole time. Sometimes it’s better to lag behind, see the crowd from a different angle, as they bomb forward ahead of you. It’s good to be unproductive every now and then.

There’s no point in making resolutions that will stress you out in the end. For starters, the world’s already a pretty stressful place, we don’t need to add to it. Better to stick to one or two achievable, desirable targets you think will enrich your life and that of others. Don’t just think of yourself as an individual. Think also of the benefit your fellow humans could derive from your actions. The rewards will be worth it.

You can buy me a coffee here.