HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — We’re barely into the New Year and many of you have set goals, but if you’re feeling overwhelmed, remember, it’s only mind over matter!
Huntsville Psychotherapy & Counseling Services Psychotherapist, Monretta Vega says we should be realistic with our goals and give ourselves grace.
She said New Year’s Resolutions come because of reflection and wanting to make a change.
Those changes are often long-term goals.
Your approach? Break down those goals. "With accomplishing our New Year's resolutions, we want to make sure we're breaking them down into step by step goals. So instead of saying we're going to generalize and have this main goal for instance, exercise every month or every day. Let's break it down," said Vega.
Vega says it also helps to start to identify our mental health as to why we're making these goals.
Love & Marriage's Melody Holt, puts her goals on paper.
"I love to write down my goals for the year and that allows me to really keep track of where am, what I am accomplishing, and what I'm kind of falling behind on that I may need to catch up on," Holt explains. "I think it's also a great idea to articulate your goals to your friends to your family because it gives you the opportunity for people to hold you accountable."
By the end of the year, only nine percent of people have completed their New Year's Resolution, a statistic that Holt says needs to increase.
"We've got to make sure we are making realistic types of resolutions," Holt said.
With a total of over 800,000 positive COVID cases in Alabama, Holt recognizes the mental and physical challenges that the pandemic brought with it.
"2021 there were all kinds of things coming at us from every which way," Holt said. "So, goals that you set, or resolutions that you set in 2019, if you didn't meet those in 2021, it's okay! 2021 was a crazy year."