Going Cold Turkey

This time of year everyone is fine tuning their list of New Year’s Resolutions, but if we really think about it, how different is it from last years list? Another year has passed and many of us will not have made the changes that we had wanted to, so we’ll just try again this year because this year is definitely going to be ‘our year’, right? WRONG. 2014 may be one year on from 2013 but the excitement of the new year passes in a couple of days. Once everyone goes back to work, returns to their monotonous daily routines and has to actually start doing some studying (woes of a University student) the opportunity to reinvent yourself is suddenly not so appealing as you thought. Humans are creatures of habit and it doesn’t take long for us to push aside our resolutions and revert back to our old coping mechanisms. Here are a few things I am going to try and they might work for you too!

Do NOT go Cold Turkey. So many people, come the new year, will decide to give up everything that is bad for them (this may be smoking, alcohol, chocolate etc.) This is not a good idea. As well as feeling really grouchy and grumpy for the first few days of the new year because of the withdrawal symptoms, you will find yourself back to square one in the first few weeks. Some people may be lucky enough to have the will power to stick to their resolutions, good for them. But for the majority of us it will take a lot of work to adjust to our new lifestyles. I would recommend the following tips:

Introduce one habit at a time

When people create a list of 10+ resolutions and decide to deal with them all at the same time they are putting to much expectation on themselves, probably eventually resulting in failure. Not such a great start to the year… Make a conscious effort to only make small changes at once. You have to do something 21 times in order for the habit to stick, so this could be going to the gym for 21 days or making sure you eat breakfast 21 days in a row. This isn’t a very long time in the grand scheme of things - it’s only 5.7% of the whole year. So, you could technically resolve 17+ resolutions this year! But, you have to focus on resolving the situation daily, and this is why you must not overload yourself and focus on one item at a time. You will be much more successful if you do not pile a ton of expectation upon yourself, so start by making small changes.

Opt for a lifestyle change

Choose resolutions which can stick for life. It is much better to introduce a new habit steadily than to charge full steam ahead and burn out at the end of January. So many people say that from the 1st of January they will go to the gym every day, never eat chocolate again, study anatomy everyday (blah, blah, you get the gist) but this is actually not healthy, you are setting yourself up to fail. You are obviously not going to eat 100% healthy food for 12 months, go to the gym every day or study every evening. Life gets in the way. So, it is much healthier to incorporate these resolutions steadily into your every day life as you will not see yourself as a ‘failure’ if everyday isn’t as perfect as you planned it. This year, instead of cutting out every single item of food which is bad for me (which is pretty much everything) and being back on the chocolate bars by the 10th January I am going to replace these foods with healthier options and learn the mentality that these foods are not ‘off-limit’. I am hoping this will dissipate my cravings and reduce temptation as these foods are not going away, we just need to learn to live with them.

Allow yourself to make mistakes

Failure doesn’t mean that you are not perfect. You must not allow your success to be hindered by a couple of set-backs along the way as your mistakes do not define you. It is far better to make mistakes as you do learn from them and they make sure you are better equipped when you get back up and start again. It is very common when introducing a new habit to take 1 step back for every 2 steps you take forward, but if you persevere and learn from your mistakes you are far more likely to be successful come the end of the year. 

Many people fail at their goals because they know what they want the final outcome to be, such as ‘lose 50lbs in 12 months’ but they rarely know where to start. If you divide your long term goal up into shorter goals and build a specific plan to achieve small steps along the way, such as 3 month sections, or follow a particular fitness plan for a finite number of weeks (i.e. 6 weeks) you are much more likely to ‘stick at it’ and lead to that ultimate resolution.

Do things you enjoy and HAVE FUN!

It is very important to keep doing things you enjoy. By cutting out a bad habit you are removing something from your life which you got pleasure from, so it is important to replace that habit with something you enjoy or the resolution will become redundant very quickly! It could be something simple, for example if I am trying to cut back on chocolate and I start craving it I will decide to paint my nails as this is something I enjoy (and it also means I can’t eat chocolate for at least 30 minutes whilst they dry and after that time my cravings have gone - RESULT!)

If you don’t have anything you enjoy doing (don’t worry, many people don’t) you need to start to learn to pamper yourself a bit more. So I recommend you should...Start something new! It doesn’t have to be anything radical or expensive, you just have to enjoy it.

The best part of accomplishing a resolution is watching yourself gain the mental resilience, confidence and trust in yourself. You may not accomplish everything on your list this year, but the journey will be incredible so don’t push yourself too hard but make the small changes you need to make this year that much better than the last.

I hope some of you will find these points useful! 

Good luck everyone x