With goals in place, you create a structure that keeps you on track and motivated.ĭeadlines and milestones become your trusty sidekicks, reminding you to stay focused and disciplined. It's all about being accountable and taking ownership of your actions. Making resolutions, or goal setting, is like having your own personal cheerleader, rooting for you to succeed! When you set goals, you're making a promise to yourself and your dreams. The recurring themes each year include a more active approach to health and fitness, improved finances, and learning new things for personal and professional development. The views expressed here are the author’s.Every year, millions of people make New Year’s resolutions, hoping to spark positive change. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything - anger, anxiety, or possessions - we cannot be free.”Īllison Hope is a writer whose work has been featured by The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, Slate and elsewhere. No need to shoehorn ambitious and unsustainable resolutions into 2022 planning.Īs the preeminent Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, who knows a thing or two about the notion of shedding things that bring unhealthy attachments or stress, says, “Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. It’s enough to be breathing and putting one foot in front of the other (even better if with socks). When the pandemic first hit, people were launched into flight-or-fight mode. Removing time-consuming chores that don’t do much to improve cleanliness, like squeegeeing the shower or making hospital corners on the bed, but free up time or improve mental wellbeing are absolutely worth it.ĥ. Ditching the elaborate and highly unnecessary toddler birthday party with homemade fancy cupcakes? Most certainly yes. Letting go of things, both actions, habits and possessions, can de-clutter and de-stress. Better to unbridle self-imposed obligations by saying goodbye to the things that stress you out than to waste time making resolutions that you know you won’t keep. Bask in the glow of fewer stressors: Gone is the promise to bolster the biceps, to perfect the pottery-making, hone those sourdough skills or write the next great American novel. Here's how to make 12 'micro-resolutions' insteadĤ. Identify the specific tasks, activities and items that are detractive and, poof! Flush them all down the toilet! Is ironing that shirt for the Zoom meeting really necessary? Does the bed really need hospital corners? Do you need to finish reading that mediocre book? Is it really worth arguing with the kid about 10 more minutes of screen time? Do we need to keep buying cottage cheese when no one actually eats it, and it stinks up the fridge? Seriously. So, get in the dissolution mindset! It’s cathartic.ģ. Holding onto those stressors, like having an argument with someone, or experiencing a stressful event at home, work or school can have a negative impact on your physical health even years later, according to a 2018 study in the Association for Psychological Science. There are so many little things on people’s “to do” lists because we think those things need to get done – and yet some of those activities bring disproportionate anxiety or strain. Commit to getting rid of things that unnecessarily add stress. Most people quit their resolutions, according to a study published in the Journal of Substance Abuse.Ģ. Quit the guilt over shedding the New Year’s resolutions that no one can keep anyway, and which pandemic-weary hearts can’t tolerate. Instead of making New Year’s resolutions, commit to New Year’s dissolutions.ġ. Make 2022 the year of the anti-resolution! This new year, you can do things differently. Even just going to the gym sounds like a wonderful goal if there weren’t the fear of contracting Covid-19. Resolutions feel like a great idea for well-rested and optimistic people. Indeed, many are facing increased stress and depression since Covid entered the scene, according to multiple studies, including a September 2020 survey in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which found a three-fold increase in depression during the pandemic than before. blackCAT/E+/Getty Imagesĥ science-based strategies for nailing your New Year's resolutions Mother and daughter are at home holding 2022 balloon numbers.
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