The week before New Year’s, a lot of us feel motivated to start the year with healthier habits and a fresh outlook ahead. The week of the new year, we begin to implement those changes. Whether it’s fueling our body with more nutrient-dense food choices, consistent exercise or even beginning mental health therapy, we feel ready.
For most people, however, the resolutions begin to fade after time passes. Positive habit behaviors begin to decline, and we end up finding ourselves back to engaging in the patterns that were familiar and comforting to us, yet negatively impacting our well-being. If we are one of the lucky few still engaged in our resolution, keep up the good work. But some of you may be slacking and reevaluating your goals. The tips below will reenergize your commitment.
So, how can you ACTUALLY sustain lasting change? The key is to implement a few of these tips derived from Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Ready, Set, Brain!
The first is the mentality of practicing the mindset of “small and achievable.” As a therapist, this is something I have helped clients focus on when creating lasting, positive changes for themselves.
If we create this drastic list of large changes, a lot of times the brain will feel overwhelmed and end up even more resistant (especially for neurodivergent folks). We may perform these activities or behaviors consistently for a few days, but as time passes, we can feel overwhelmed, and burned out. The dedication and discipline for such decrease substantially and we can find ourselves regressing even further.
Utilizing cognitive reframing helps us realize how much we accomplish in a day by training our brains to view task completion as task completion, no matter how small. If your new year’s goal was to exercise daily, start by reframing the way you look at exercise – as an intentional movement. Did you get out of bed and walk to get the mail? Congrats, you engaged in intentional movement. Did you walk the dog today? Congrats, you engaged in intentional movement once again.
By training the brain to recognize these patterns of behavior as positive, intentional actions toward your goal, you can feel that much more motivated to eventually make it to the gym consistently!
Trust the Process YOU Created
The second is practicing a mindful awareness of utilizing routines and structure for us in each present moment of the day. Routines ultimately help us sustain habits and hold ourselves accountable to lasting positive changes in our lives. When we create a structure for ourselves, we increase our ability to achieve life satisfaction. Through a mindfulness lens, we can physically and emotionally feel the positive sensations of that life satisfaction.
- Responsibilities: Responsibilities include anything that you have an obligation to. Whether that is performing at a job, maintaining a house, caring for children, or even something as simple as getting yourself out of bed. Understanding your responsibilities can help you prioritize, accomplish more efficiently, and carve out the necessary time to work on those new year’s goals.
- Structure: When we create routines, habits follow. We hold ourselves accountable to completing the tasks within our routines within reasonable amounts of time. If we struggle with distraction, we can practice mindfulness of what is happening to us within our present environment. Is our routine exhaustive, leaving us feeling depleted? Does our routine exclude time for self-care?
True Indicators for Lasting Positive Change
How we can determine if our new year’s goals become not only successful but sustainable, is if they comfortably fit within our day-to-day of structured responsibilities. A good way of gauging this is if you find yourself experiencing less resistance, and more confidence and eagerness to engage in the behaviors that help you meet your goals. The key is to start small, and practice mindful awareness of how you feel when you “accomplish.” Savor that feeling, reward yourself with verbal positivity, and keep on going!
DISCLAIMER: This article is not intended to treat or diagnose mental illnesses or provide therapy. You may want to consider treatment, diagnosis, and therapy with a licensed professional. This article is not medical advice.
