THIS YEAR WE TAKE THEM AGAIN BUT THIS TIME WE STICK TO THEM

Island Lifestyle

Good resolutions are thought of in December, put into practice at the beginning of January and often abandoned before the end of the month…
An American study has shown that 76% of resolutions adopted are not kept because they are often too ambitious. In order to keep them, they must be realistic and close to our hearts. We must adopt them for good reasons, i.e. be convinced of their interest for ourselves and not to please others. Finally, we must proceed in stages, even if it means revising the objectives if the goal set is too difficult to achieve. It is important to avoid frustration and the feeling of failure at all costs. These resolutions must be synonymous with pleasure, not torture. The only way to make them last is to make them feel good.

The most popular good resolutions at the beginning of the year are :

Quit smoking
To save money
Getting back into sports
Eat healthier and lose weight

In order to achieve your goals, you must learn not to change everything overnight to have a chance of success. The best practice is to abandon an old “bad habit” and replace it with a new “good habit” in order to avoid the accumulation of things to do, which would not be sustainable in the long term.

Quitting smoking is certainly the most difficult resolution to keep, but it is the one that tops the list at the beginning of the year. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to learn about the methods and practices that can help you reach this objective, not to hesitate to consult doctors or to use alternative medicine and to get help from your family. Even if it is not the main reason for quitting, the financial benefit adds to the motivation. It is important to reward yourself with the money you save by offering yourself small pleasures.

For sports, there is no point in joining a gym again if you have done it before and know that you will not be using it in the long term. You might as well avoid the feeling of failure and the money lost. But you can decide to spend less time on your couch in front of the TV and go for a thirty minute walk, jog or exercise at home several times a week. Doing it with a friend helps with motivation, stimulation and perseverance and after a few sessions it will become a pleasure that you can’t do without.

Money is a major source of stress. When it comes to saving money, we are all full of good intentions, but this should not mean depriving ourselves to save money. Managing your budget better, i.e. avoiding unnecessary expenses and costs, requires some adjustments in priorities and the implementation of new habits. First of all, avoid compulsive purchases by not buying on the same day in order to dissociate desires from real needs, establish a monthly budget and stick to it, plan menus in advance and make a list of food purchases, buy second hand and resell what you don’t need any more allows you to achieve this without frustration.

We know that we must eat well. The starting point of our physical and mental health, our shape and our general state depends on our food. Eating well is about balancing your diet and choosing the right foods. So reconnect with your food, cook more, dare to try new recipes, test new flavors. If this decision includes a notion of pleasure, it will be easier to keep and your body and mind will be better off. And you’ll even manage to lose those few stubborn extra pounds you’ve been meaning to get rid of without effort.

To be able to stick to it and achieve the goals you have set, you have to limit the number of good resolutions. You have to be honest with yourself, decide on priorities by applying the SMART principles: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Temporal.

Happy New Year 2022 and see you in December for the review.