Are New Year’s Resolutions still a thing?
Shall we just give up resolutions this year?
Are New Year’s resolutions still a thing? I get the sense that with each passing year they’re becoming more and more passé. Not that we’re any good at keeping them in the first place, to be honest. One landmark study from the 1980s found that only 19% of people were able to keep their resolutions. As of 2020, we are only doing mildly better with that number rising to 35%. I don’t think these low statistics are purely down to our general laziness or lack of motivation though. There are a number of reasons for resolution failure: we’re peer pressured into it, we treat it like a sprint and not a marathon; we don’t track progress and thus think we’re not making any or we might feel complete lack of support from those around us. Overwhelmingly though, the biggest reason for failure seems to point to our lack of emotional commitment to the resolution in the first place, our hearts simply aren’t in it.
We might know what we want, but we don’t know why. Potentially this is down to the quality of our goals and their myopic focus. At the end of the day we’re all looking for self-improvement in one way or another, but getting to the root of why we’re doing something and who this goal is ultimately serving can vastly improve our chances of sticking to it. In the latest yougov.co.uk study for 2020/21, the top three NY resolutions were: Do more exercise or improve fitness, lose weight, improve diet. Too generic and ultimately a little lacking in substance for a large number of us who aren’t doing these things for serious, long term medical benefits. Perhaps to combat this, it’s time we did away with resolutions altogether and started setting intentions instead.
What is the difference you ask? Resolutions are steadfast and inflexible. If we’re running with this health and fitness theme, a resolution might be something like ‘This year I will go to the gym 3-4 times a week’. The nature of a statement like this is more or less something that you want to ‘fix’ in your life. Furthermore, the directive nature of the statement can often lead to negative thoughts about our current situations if the demand is not met. An intention, on the other hand, is more focused on creating abundance in your life. An intention does not imply something is wrong with the way you currently live, but instead, it motivates you to live even better. An intention could be, ‘I’m going to live a more health-focused lifestyle’. This can easily include going to the gym 4 times a week, but it is not the stand-alone goal. This way, eating healthier meals, going to bed earlier, choosing to take the stairs, etc. can all be encompassed under this intention. It strips back the goal, makes it simpler and thus easier to achieve.
Yesterday a new moon entered Capricorn. New moons are all about intention setting. So with that and the dawning of a new year still fresh in our minds, let’s look at some better intentions to set for 2021. Though I mentioned the physical above, ‘health’ can encompass a lot of things, so try to think a little more outside of the box when setting your 2021 intentions. How about something as simple as ‘I wish to make bolder decisions in 2021’. On a basic level, this can be done easily by saying ‘yes’ more often. Alternatively, when faced with a difficult decision tell yourself that fear is there to remind you to concentrate. In the words of the illustrious Bear Grylls, ‘the presence of fear does not mean you cannot do something, its self-protection to get things right and heighten your senses'. Create a mantra for yourself when going into a tough decision-making scenario and hold tight to these ideals. Sometimes intentions that fully remove the focus from self can pay off to our physical and mental well-being in the long run. For example, one intention this year could be to get more involved in enacting social change. This can mean voting at every opportunity, volunteering with charities you believe in or even something as simple as being kinder to strangers, thus exuding the positive energy you wish to receive back.
Maybe this is sounding a bit too naive and optimistic to you. Perhaps you’re thinking that being nice to strangers or telling yourself to have courage in new situations isn’t going to magically change the world around you. But then again, the world won’t suddenly change because you’ve decided to spend less time on your phone or invest in crop tops either. Nor did anything really change when the clock struck midnight on the 1st January. Really and truly, there is no right or wrong time to start living in your intentions, we only have the present moment and focusing on the short term goals that bring a quick fix is not the way to achieve anything worthwhile. Let us be mindful, meaningful and live in our positive intentions for 2021 and beyond.
Words: Holly Westwood