HMN 2024: New Year, New You? A Different Take on “Resolutions”

Now that a new year has rung in, do you know anybody broadcasting their “resolutions”? If you are one of these people, do you view folks who do not have any resolutions as somehow lackluster, unmotivated, or lazy? I, for one, have none. I will probably continue to go to the gym 3-4 times a week, my body fat percentage will continue to be 18%, most likely, and I’ll probably have 3 to 4 publications in the coming year. But these are not goals per se or sources of pressure. Here are five suggestions about how one can approach 2025 without making “a list.”

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Go slow and steady, not new and exhausting. Instead of a flurry of hectic activity directed towards meeting 1-10 lofty resolutions, you could choose to continue to do things and activities you have found to be beneficial and helpful. Instead of a new, high intensity and high pressure exercise program, why not move 30 minutes a day via walking, or do yoga twice a week? Instead of counting calories, why not eat fresh, healthy food as often as possible (ideally every day), and have 2-3 meals a day without snacking in between or consuming food or drink that contains no nutritional value (junk food, sugar or diet soft drinks, alcohol, etc.)?

Delegate tasks as early and often as possible. Many people have become the communication hub or “go to” for various duties and roles in a family or social network. These have begun to feel obligatory and expected by everyone. But what if you chose not to be your family’s or friends’ personal Uber or Lyft driver every day, but instead someone else lent a hand with chauffeuring once in a while? You could also choose to no longer do other people’s laundry, but instead have folks do their own, including the folding and hanging of clothing items after the washing and drying.

Maintain alone time and self-care practices that work for you. In my research (e.g., Killian, 2008; Scott et al., 2023), one of the first things that goes out the window when people get stressed and have too much to do with too little time is self-care. The activities and practices that “recharge their batteries” drop off the to-do list as soon as things get hectic or challenging for too many folks. Carving out time for yourself to do what you need to do to be grounded and healthy is not selfish; it’s taking care of yourself so that you can be in a good place for when demands come your way.

Get plenty of rest. The next thing to go out the window when things get stressful is sleep, but it’s critical to have adequate rest to maintain one’s physical and mental health. I spoke to someone last year who said that with members of the staff at her job quitting in droves, her employer needed her doing longer and longer hours per day. When I asked how many hours of sleep she was getting per night with the current work schedule, she said three. This was a scary scenario, one in which there wasn’t enough time in the day to eat healthily and to rest as the demands for her labor went higher and higher. If you need 6 hours per night to be fully functional, arrange your schedule so you get those hours. If you’re exhausted at 5 pm every day, take a nap for 20 minutes so that you are awake and alive for conversations, tasks, and the safe operation of a bicycle or automobile. Consider it a gift to yourself.

Lastly, if you’re over 55, consider entering “Pre-retirement.” I started pre-retirement about two years ago. It’s a mindset where you spend as much time at work as is required, and complete all tasks on time, in our usual exemplary manner, but you are also thinking about the other things you want to do with your time remaining on planet Earth and making time for those activities. You may be at your most productive, or creative, after age 50, and you can consider what things you’d like to do that may or may not be work-related before you retire, and that might be a part of your “legacy” when you shed this mortal coil. In pre-retirement mode, there is no panic that “you only have a few years left to establish your legacy.” You’re doing all of that now, over a period of 10, 15 or 20 years, and it works, because as I said above, it’s “slow and steady.”