Aaron Campbell
For many of us, the new year symbolises change, new beginnings and a fresh start. We often hear phrases like “new year, new me” or scroll through feeds of people’s new year's resolutions (although this year “ins and outs” seems to be the new trend).
Wanting to make positive changes and build healthy habits in our lives is a positive thing, however we can feel under pressure during this time of year to make and keep resolutions or goals for the year ahead which can lead to stress and anxiety and ultimately works against building healthy habits.
New year, same great you
Let’s start with some facts: the clock changing from 11:59PM December 31st, 2025, to 12:00am January 1st, 2026, doesn’t result in some big, instant, overnight change. In fact, many of us (myself included) don’t feel any different when the new year starts and that’s okay, a new year doesn’t have to mean a new you and often the pressure that we put on ourselves to expect or create change can often lead to a lot of stress and anxiety.
Similarly, despite the impression that everyone else is doing them, it’s not necessary to have new year's resolutions at all. The feeling of needing to “change” or have your year planned out from early January, can produce a lot of unnecessary worry. Having a plan or setting goals to work towards is positive, but these don’t need to be perfectly in place on the first of January.
Healthy habits are not just for new year
Many of us understandably use new year as an opportunity to build healthy habits into our routines, which is great for our health and wellbeing. But it’s important to recognise that we can choose to make positive changes and build healthy habits whenever we want. One of my friends who has decided to do a sugar free January made the decision to start the Monday before new year as she said it made sense to her to start a new healthy habit at the start of the week. It is also important to note that while trends like dry & sugar free January are great, they are not necessarily right for everyone. Healthy habits are about making positive changes and sometimes these changes can be small, steady, sustainable tweaks rather than ambitious targets of completely cutting something out of our lives.
Steps to health habits/goals
No matter what time of year you decide to incorporate healthier habits into your life, here are some tips to help make the most and give you the best start:
- Set realistic goals – We often feel that we need to make big, drastic changes when setting goals for ourselves. This can often make it difficult to achieve these goals. It is better to set smaller, more realistic targets and where you have bigger goals break them down into smaller more manageable pieces.
- Don’t neglect your mental health - When setting goals and trying to build healthy habits, many of us often focus on physical aspects which is understandable as when we achieve these goals there is often a visible difference. However, our mental health and wellbeing are just as important to having a healthy life. Try setting some goals that focus on mental health. Here are some great tips to get you started.
- Set positive goals - Many of us set ‘negative’ goals – such as stopping eating sweets or spending less money. There’s nothing wrong with stopping things that aren’t good for us – this can be a healthy choice. But it’s important to be cautious about making strict resolutions with no flexibility. One mistake and we may feel like we’ve failed. And while we might try again, we may also abandon the goal altogether. It can help to re-frame your goal in a positive and flexible way. For example, “I will eat healthier”, instead of, “I will stop eating unhealthy food”.
- Make your goals flexible - We all experience the ups and downs of everyday life. We might have a hard week, or month. We might have a busy period, become unwell, or handle any number of life’s challenges. So, when you’re setting goals, it can help to make them flexible to respond to real life. You could start small and revisit them each month. For example, if you want to read more, you could start with a goal to simply start a book. Or if you feel you don’t have enough time to read, you could listen to an audio book or podcast. You could also plan for when it’ll be hard to keep up with your goals. For example, if your resolution is to exercise more, you could say, when I’m busy or not feeling well, I’ll aim to do 10 minutes of gentle movement.
- Don't be afraid of setbacks/failure - One of the reasons why resolutions can negatively affect our mental health is because of how we think about success and failure. When we set a rigid goal, success and failure can feel black and white. We either met our goal of saving £100 a month, or we didn’t. We either only ate healthy food, or we failed. But this way of setting goals doesn’t account for the ups and downs of life and the different ways we learn, grow, and adapt. When we think of failure as bad and avoid it, we miss out on what we can learn by making mistakes. But if we re-frame what we see as “failure”, we can see it as an opportunity to learn – and as something that can contribute to us succeeding. So, as you’re setting your goals, try to make space for flexibility and the possibility of ‘failing’, and learning from this journey.
This year is what you make of it
My friends and I often joke that whenever we experience a setback early in the new year, "there's always another new year” - whether that be the Lunar new year or the financial new year for some examples. While it is meant to be a joke, there is also some sincerity in it. There is always the opportunity to start afresh and build healthy habits not just in January. All our years will look drastically different. We will experience great moments but also have setbacks. It’s important to be kind to ourselves and make the most of the year no matter what happens. If you are looking to build some healthy habits and need some advice, you can check out some of our tips here: Our best mental health tips - backed by research.