New Year’s health resolutions are so easy to make, but actually sticking to them is something that many people struggle with, so much so, that their New Year’s health resolutions often get abandoned within weeks. This comes down to a number of reasons, typically resulting from people setting big goals for themselves that they expect to be able to achieve quickly and then get frustrated when they don’t, and thus end up giving up on their New Year’s health resolutions.
But you can indeed stick to your resolutions and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with dreaming big and setting goals for yourself. Here are some of the methods you can use in order to keep and achieve your New Year’s health resolutions.
#1. Break Your Goals Down Into Small Steps
The most common mistake people make with their New Year’s resolutions is having this big goal, but not setting up a plan for how they’re going to achieve it. If your goal is to eat healthy and to stop eating fast food all the time, then making little switches over time will help you reach your end goal of eating healthy. While going cold turkey works for some, for most people who try to do that, they just end up yo-yoing back to their previous habits.
Try switching out a candy bar for an apple, or one meal with a healthy alternative, and gradually increase the changes you make as the ones you incorporated become second nature. Through breaking your goals down into small steps that can be built on over time, it makes achieving your New Year’s health resolutions easier, both to get to and to sustain.
#2. Don’t Try To Change Everything At Once
Okay, so it’s a new year, and you’re reflecting on all the things you want to change about your life. Change is extremely possible, but trying to do a complete 180 on your life all at once? That gets very overwhelming very fast. Similar to how breaking your goals down into smaller steps that are easier to achieve and build on will make sticking to your New Year’s health resolutions easier, so too will changing a few things here and there until you’re able to build up to making all the changes you wanted to.
For example, you want to get in shape, you want to run everyday, you want to eat healthy, you want to read a book a week, you want to cook at home more, you want to quit alcohol, etc, etc…. While all fantastic resolutions, focusing on one thing at a time until it becomes habitual will make all those changes possible, in the long run. Perhaps you start with reading a book every month or every two weeks until you’re able to read a book a week, and then you start to go on weekly runs and adding days. Through focusing on one change at a time, all those changes you want to make can happen.
#3. Have An Accountability Buddy
Research shows that we’re very influenced by our social circle. If the people you surround yourself with don’t have a healthy lifestyle, that’ll make it easier to quit your New Year’s health resolutions. Having social support and an accountability buddy you can lean on and who can lean on you will make it easier to stay on track, especially if you’re able to do things like go on walks or to the gym together and the like. People learn from each other, and having support and encouragement reinforces the desire to work towards your goals.
#4. Find A Way To Achieve Your New Year’s Health Resolutions That You Enjoy
So, one of your New Year’s health resolutions is getting in shape, so you decide to take up running. But you absolutely hate running. If you choose an exercise that you don’t like, you’re not going to want to exercise, which ultimately will likely result in you abandoning your fitness goals.
Finding a way to achieve your New Year’s health resolutions that you enjoy is an absolute must if you want to be able to stick with them. If you like to dance, then going to dance classes is something you can both look forward to and help you on your way to a healthier lifestyle, since it’s so much easier to do things that you like rather than that you hate.
#5. Rethink Dieting
There are so many diets out there and so many people who have tried so many because they didn’t see the results they wanted. Rather than dieting, consulting with a nutritionist on the best foods and dietary recommendations for your specific needs will help you be healthier and achieve your goals, since you’ll be doing what’s best for you, personally.
#6. Acknowledge Your Progress
It’s so easy to focus on everything we’re not rather than everything we are. If all we can focus on is how far we have left to go and all the ways in which we need to change or could improve on, this constant berating can lead us to give up on our goals. Acknowledging the progress you’ve made is a key part of sticking with your New Year’s health resolutions, because through seeing the positive changes you have made, it makes the ones you still want to make less discouraging. Be proud of yourself! It takes a lot of effort and commitment to make a change, and any progress you make towards your goals is cause for celebration.
#7. Be Prepared For Setbacks – And Give Yourself Another Chance
No one is perfect. Setbacks are inevitable, and can often lead to the complete desertion of your New Year’s health goals, because you ran into a wall, so why bother to keep going? Setbacks are a part of life. It’s important to give yourself another chance. After all, although the start of the new year is the most common time for people to strive to make a change, you can work to better yourself at any time of the year, be it a Tuesday evening in July or whatever other untraditional time.
Looking For More Ways To Keep Your New Year’s Health Resolutions?
Ogden Chiropractic is passionate about providing our patients with the tools they need in order to live a healthy lifestyle. From chiropractic adjustments to nutritional advice to help with exercising, we want to help you keep your New Year’s health resolutions. For more information or to set up an appointment, don’t hesitate to contact us today!
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