Making Your Resolution Last
With good intentions we make our healthy resolutions for the New Year. Yet as January passes into February, many find it hard or even impossible to keep those resolutions. Belinda Borrelli, PhD, clinical psychologist at the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at The Miriam Hospital and associate professor at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, offers suggestions on how to sustain your goals and keep healthy year round.
What are the most common New Year’s resolutions?
The most popular resolutions are to quit smoking, and to begin dieting and/or exercising.
Why is it easy to make lifestyle changes at the beginning of the year?
People believe that a momentous occasion, like the new year, can help motivate them and help them maintain health behavior change. However, true change can be accomplished any time of the year with motivation, commitment and confidence.
Why is it hard to maintain these changes through the year?
Our motivation waxes and wanes, depending upon other priorities in life. Also, sometimes the build up to the New Year is too much, and people expect perfect change from New Year's Day onward. Such high expectations hardly ever work. While I am not advocating "slips," they do happen and so you should always have a plan to get back on track. Most importantly, do not be hard on yourself if there is a slip—feeling bad about yourself only leads to more slipping!
What methods can help sustain change?
One method is to make a list of why you want to change as well as why you don't want to change. Being aware of the reasons of why you are motivated to change, and also being aware of the reasons of why it is difficult to change, can help you prepare for and get through the tough times. Try to come up with solutions to the reasons of why you don't want to change.
Another way is to get support from others, for example, a buddy who has successfully accomplished the change, or group support. Finally, figure out what your goals are, even your hobbies, and then assess how your unhealthy behavior is keeping you from achieving that goal or hobby. For example, some may love to play sports or exercise, but as smokers, find these things difficult to do because of breathing difficulty or lack of energy. Therefore, smoking is keeping them from something they enjoy doing.
Can these methods work for anyone?
In general, I believe that these three points can be applied to a variety of health behavior changes.
How can you stay motivated year round?
One way is to regularly take stock of all of the benefits accrued since the behavior change. Reward yourself for the hard work you've done. Many people don't believe they should be rewarding themselves for something that they should be doing anyway, but giving yourself rewards is a key part of keeping motivation high, and helping to renew your commitment. It is important to find out what makes you happy, and reward yourself a little each day.
These suggestions provide an excellent starting point to keep this year’s resolution. Try them and next year you may be able to make a new resolution!
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