Take the Pressure off New Years Resolutions
Does anyone else feel like there is a lot of pressure in New Year's resolutions? The idea of “New Year, New Me” feels so large, and the idea can be extremely overwhelming. The other thought that comes with it is, “Do you want to become a new person?” Not everyone wants to completely change, especially if they’ve worked hard to become the current version of themselves.
Do you feel like every year you make a list of resolutions or goals for yourself, and every time you get to a certain point in the year, you experience burn out or stop? This year, there has been an influx in the idea of “rebranding for 2026” on social media, which can feel like a similar form of pressure to resolutions. The other thing to think about with all of these is, “Will these actions create long lasting change?” For some people it might be the encouragement they need, but it might not work for others with the idea of “change” inevitably fizzling out.
I’ve been thinking about different ways to alleviate that pressure in some way, and I think the idea of pivoting instead of rebranding sounds less overwhelming. The idea of evaluating your life and figuring out what areas are working and bringing you joy is a good foundation to assessing what aspects you want to alter over time.
With the idea of pivoting, here are some journal prompts to help guide you on how to identify what areas you might want to change:
What brought you joy this year? How can you bring that joy into the new year?
What is something you are proud of yourself for in 2025?
How do you want to feel in 2026? Not look or be but feel in your body and day to day.
What promise do you want to keep to yourself in the upcoming year?
What are your short term and long-term goals? What’s a goal you can set that is just for you?
What are you choosing to leave behind, carry with you, and invite into the new year?
The other thing I’ve been thinking about is how serious New Years Resolutions are. I’m not sure when it became that way, but what happened to making them fun. What if we made fun and whimsical resolutions like:
Listen to a new album every week
Learn how to make your favorite childhood meal
Take pictures of things that bring you joy
Try every Ben and Jerry’s flavor of ice cream
Learn how to cartwheel
Pick up that craft or hobby you never got to do as a kid
Explore every park in your state
Write a poem every month
Watch a sunrise or sunset everyday
Send letters to your friends and family every month
What do you think about New Years Resolutions? How does the idea of pivoting feel to you?
