Stress of Meeting Your New Year’s Resolutions

Every year, millions of people make New Year’s Resolutions. They come up with several different ways they want to change their life, and they are adamant about doing them. They start off strong, doing exactly what they have set forth to do. And then – life sets in.

Meetings, family responsibilities, and more jump ahead of the time you set aside to devote to your New Year’s Resolutions. The next thing you know you’re feeling:

• Overwhelmed
• Mad
• Frustrated
• Defeated

You are angry that you have slipped on your New Year’s Resolutions. You wanted so desperately to make changes in your life, but it’s only a couple weeks, and you’re slipping back into your old ways. You feel sorry for yourself. You end up grieving the loss of the life you want to live in the New Year.

Dealing with New Year’s Resolutions in a Stress-Free Way

Only 8% of people are successful with their New Year’s Resolutions. These people aren’t approaching New Year’s Resolutions in a way that stresses them out. They do something a bit different to help them succeed.

The stress we all put ourselves through each year is unnecessary. You do not have to make yourself feel bad for not following through on your New Year’s Resolutions.

New Year’s Resolutions are nice to have because it gives us motivation to make our lives better. However, why should we mark one day as being the one that we make a plan and start following it? That’s a lot of pressure! Especially when we try to change our lives not in just one way, but in a number of ways because let’s face it – we don’t usually just have one Resolution. It’s usually at least two and for some people it’s five or more.

It’s a tall order to make such drastic changes to your life when your life hasn’t changed to accommodate those changes. That’s what makes it so stressful.

What really needs to happen is people need to let go of the stress they put upon themselves every single year, and start to see each day as a new start. Instead of having several Resolutions, have just one. Work on that Resolution until it works itself into your life, and when that is locked in, you can bring another one in. With time, life will evolve into that one you had imagined before you gave up because of failed New Year’s Resolutions.

To help you wrap your head around this new way to make lasting changes in your life, the following are some tips to help you.

• Write down the Resolutions you want to make this year.
• Choose just one to start on New Year’s Day.
• Make a plan on how you will fit that life change into your schedule.
• Come up with some obstacles you’ll likely deal with and how you’ll overcome them.
• Track your progress with a chart.

It’s best to start with the easiest Resolution first. When you are successful with that one, it will give you motivation to proceed with the others.

Once you have succeeded with one, move on to the next one. As you mold your life around the new Resolution, you’ll be able to move on to the next one, and so on and so forth.

Don’t jump ahead. The faster you move through your list of Resolutions, the more likely you’ll become stressed and fail. Go slowly with it until you feel comfortable with each one. You will learn how it feels to have a new habit stick.

The great thing about this approach to New Year’s Resolutions (besides not stressing yourself out) is that you can do it throughout the year. As you see changes you want to make in your life, you can add to your list of Resolutions. This way you are continuously working on improving yourself, so you can live the life you truly want to live.