Is Your New Year’s Resolution Putting Undue Pressure On You?

The moment the countdown hit zero on New Year’s eve, we all made the transition into the new year, and anxiety took the wheel in the lives of some people.  I have always wondered why people begin a new year anxious about things that may or may not happen in the course of the year.  What is it about a new year that carries a feeling of taking a leap into oblivion?

For those who have come to understand the process of time and its relativity, this kind of worry presents a comic relief as well as an unspoken sense of uneasiness. I will cast the blame on our all too familiar “New Year’s resolution(s)” which in my subjective opinion, is why calm is thrown out of the window every first week of January.

In many parts of the world, people begin the year by setting some goals. For some, it’s either a plan to be healthier, quit a bad habit, or a promise to make time for family. However, a New Year’s resolution creates a belief that within a short time, a great deal can happen in our favor. Although having this kind of faith is the cornerstone of being a believer, many times, our resolutions are flat-out unrealistic and put undue pressure on us. 

The pressure goes into overdrive when we break one or some of our resolutions almost immediately. It’s even worse when a goal we set for the year doesn’t happen at all. We begin to look at ourselves as a failure, forgetting that there’s really nothing wrong with failing.  Trying something new or uncomfortable and coming up short shouldn’t be a sentence. It should be expected and applauded in a twisted way because failing blesses us with experience that in turn, draws us closer to our goal.

Different studies suggest people do better at keeping approach-oriented goals such as changing eating or sleeping habits rather than avoidance-oriented ones which are motivated by a desire to avoid something.

Instead of selecting an ambiguous goal, our focus should be on something more feasible that we can set our sights on. In other words, choose a very specific, achievable goal. 

Richard Wiseman, a professor of psychology at Hertfordshire University, suggests picking just one goal and focusing your energies on it rather than spreading yourself too thin with an assortment of goals.

Learning to appreciate the great results you want will take time and effort. Be patient and let time do its thing. Our New Year’s resolution should inspire optimism, not anxiety for the future. We must trust the process and understand that our motivation during week one will not be the same on day 200.

We must also learn to ask for help when we feel stuck. As we are already in a New Year, we cannot repeat past mistakes because now we are wiser. Through Jesus Christ, our hope in the future has been renewed and so we must plan with Him and in Him.

What’s your main New Year’s resolution for 2023? Are you already enforcing it?

Ogo Adelakun writes on diverse subjects.