A New Perspective on “New Year, New Me”
We have all heard it and have likely fallen into it: “New Year, New Me”. While it is well-intentioned and meant to serve as encouragement to achieve desired goals, the mentality “New Year, New Me” can actually be a detrimental perspective to have when entering a new year.
Studies have shown that nearly 70% of people who make New Year’s resolutions abandon those well-intentioned goals within months (see citation below).
This indicates that the majority of individuals looking to make long-term changes are struggling to find sustainable and lasting improvements for themselves, which can be a frustrating pattern year after year.
Although personal goals are helpful and essential for embodying and living out our own values, it is crucial to consider our intention behind working towards the change.
The perspective “New Year, New Me” can send the message that the current version of you is shame-worthy, and that you are to “reinvent” yourself in order to be worthy of happiness and contentment.
Additionally, the amount of pressure that can come with the start of a new year to make intense changes can feel insurmountable. The truth of the matter is: there are so many more “fresh starts” than we think. While it can be satisfying to start making changes at the beginning of a new year, changes can be made within a new month, with the start of a new day, within the next hour, or within the next upcoming minutes; it is when you decide to take action. There are so many more opportunities to take steps to embody our values, hopes, and desires than we give credit.
Truthfully, it isn’t realistic, helpful, or encouraging to imagine that you have to fully reinvent yourself in order to achieve what you want for yourself. With considering how many new opportunities there are to take action on your goals, let’s reframe “New Year, New Me”- instead, answer these following questions:
What is at least one thing from last year that you are proud of?
When did you feel the most connected to yourself (mind, body, spirit) last year? Other people? Your environment?
What were you doing? Where were you? Who were you with? Get specific with your response.
What are you looking to prioritize this year?
Your responses to the questions above help highlight what is most meaningful to you, what spaces and people help you to feel your best, and what areas you can focus on as you take action to become your best self (without changing who you are completely).
(All included data is from https://insideoutmastery.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/).