A Different Approach to New Years Resolutions

How’s everybody doing? It’s coming to the end of January, which means you’ve likely already broken or failed at whatever New Years resolution you set for yourself. I’m not trying to be a bitch (I mean, sometimes I am but not right this second), I’m just being real here. The notion that every January our lives are going to do a complete 180 is unrealistic. I wish we focused on seeking self-improvement year round with balanced, healthy expectations of ourselves. What if we made our NYRs manageable ones, so that we could we could feel accomplishment instead of failure at the year’s end?

I’m not saying NYRs are bad. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with setting goals and trying to better yourself. I believe concepts like Dry January and Whole 30 are helpful to people who need to see the benefits of cutting back on unhealthy habits, but they can also give people who have trouble going to extremes a completely socially acceptable reason to do so. As much as I project the image of being recovered, healthy, and happy, I’ll admit that this month has been hard. It seems like everyone is talking about their new diets, for what? Only to go crazy on pizza and cake when the clock strikes midnight on Feb 1st? We’re being inundated with thoughts about eating less, exercising even more than usual this month. I even found myself, in all my anti-diet glory, downloading a calorie-counting app that used to rule my life (but soon deleted it, I swear, so if you feel me on that go delete it right now!!!)

Now if you’ve never had issues with food or alcohol you’re probably thinking, what’s the problem with wanting to eat healthy and drink less? My answer is nothing, but why be perfect for one month of the year, when you can try to be your best self 12 months of the year and know that realistically sometimes you will fall short. Some days you’ll just need pizza or ice-cream after a day of eating balanced and healthy, or some nights you’ll de-stress by having a glass (cough cough bottle) of wine over dinner with your best friend. I think we should always be setting goals and seeking self-improvement but also have patience, grace, and compassion for ourselves.

What are my NYRs? To eat less animal products (not for the purpose of losing weight, but to do my part to save the animals and to increase cognitive benefits), and to take the stairs more when I’m coming out of the subway. My third resolution is to be open: to new ideas, cultures, friendships, love, all of it. The best part about these goals is their flexibility and adaptability. I’m not aiming for perfection, I’m aiming for small, sustainable change. It’s a balanced plan for the entire year verses a rigid set of rules for one month.

So, if you’ve failed at your New Years Resolution for 2019, it’s still January— set new ones! Set ones that will make you feel good and focus on your body, mind, spirit and not just your body.