Setting a New Years Resolution in 2024

2024 is here, offering new challenges, opportunities, conflicts, and more.  This is where a classic tradition of making New Year’s resolutions, or what we will refer to interchangeably as goals or intentions, can be really helpful in centering yourself and setting attainable goals for the New Year.  While many tend to focus on the important goal of fitness as indicated by surveys, there are many potential goals to set, reflect on, and return to over the course of next year.

As always, we want to take the time to emphasize that for many, maintaining yourself through essential self-care (regular sleep, diet, and scheduled rest, to name a few) may be the most helpful and attainable goal, and it is OK for this to be the primary focus. Many people, such as these local NBC anchors, go so far as to say “just wing it,” in the face of traditional resolutions. Here are some examples of essential self-care, and the line between self-care and seeking further support. 

We encourage you to think about how you name and affirm your resolutions.  Set your expectations appropriately, some days you will miss your goals for yourself and that is OK!   We feel it is most helpful to set a few small, attainable goals alongside longer term ones. Often, people set themselves up for failure by aiming for too many changes too quickly, or attempting too broad or sweeping a change, then get discouraged by the inevitable roadblocks.  Instead, we recommend focusing on a few goals that can be turned into digestible steps. For instance, “lose weight” can be turned into “eat servings of vegetables or fruit three times this week,” or “go for a brisk walk at least twice this week.”  It can be helpful to track your progress as well, making self-care an active routine increases the odds of success. A calendar or daily checklist can help, or one of the apps listed here.  



For more on this topic, we encourage you to read the following:

• This article can assist with setting and prioritizing personal wellness goals for the new year.
• Mental health therapists were surveyed in this separate article for recommendations for mental health resolutions for the new year.  We especially recommend the first recommendation that focuses on monitoring and reducing time on social media.  NPR hosted this article
• NPR’s Life Kit offers this page on setting resolutions which splits by topic, with suggestions for each type of resolution into their own separate articles relating to career, personal health, and more.

Finally, talking to a professional can help with setting goals, as well as providing support, connection, and an outlet to discuss and help treat stress, depression, anxiety, and more. As always, please feel free to reach out to us at the Employee Assistance Program at 617-635-2200 for immediate assistance.  

We wish you good luck and good health going into the new year.