New Years Resolutions for Mental Wellness

When you think of common New Years’ Resolutions, which ones come to mind? Some of the most common ones I hear in both my professional and personal life are related to dieting and changing one’s body shape or size in some way. If you’ve ever made a resolution similar to these, you know how painful and devastating it can be when you don’t reach your goal, or when your progress is derailed. What if we instead decided to make resolutions that are less likely to lead to those feelings, and are not rooted in diet culture?

Today I’m sharing a post I found on Instagram (credit: @neda) that suggests some goals to make for the coming year that are not related to changing your body.

The above ideas are so much more meaningful than dieting, and have a much lower chance of leading to the kind of frustration and disappointment that dieting can.

I know that exercise is a common resolution and that can be related to weight goals or to other goals. Exercise certainly has benefits and it can be helpful to add some movement into your daily life if it isn’t there already. If you choose exercise as a resolution, try to focus on these other benefits. Maybe your goal can be to find an exercise that helps you to destress, or one that makes you feel stronger. Try to think of goals that aren’t related to changing your body. This can be tough with exercise, but some forms of exercise can trigger fewer thoughts about your body than others. These are different for everyone, but a couple of common ones are yoga and walking. Both of these allow you to focus on something related to the activity itself rather than only hoping for changes in your body.

Remember that you are not your body. You live in your body. There is so much more that you can do to grow, and so much more to take advantage of in the New Year.

Have a good one!