Implementing New Year’s Resolutions

It is the beginning of a new year. This is a perfect opportunity to put new resolutions in place and further your success in sober living. Determining which resolutions to implement and adding new goals to your recovery can seem overwhelming. Breaking your resolutions down into steps and maintaining a clear mindset through the process of implementing new goals is essential.

At the end of last year, you may have looked at your resolutions and observed how effective you were in accomplishing them. Despite the results from previous years, you have the chance to start fresh. One of the amazing things about a new year is that it provides a fresh start for anyone. You can let go of your past failures and successes and start a new journey.

The Meaning Behind New Year’s Day

January 1st is the first day of the new year on the calendar. However, the celebration of the transition from December 31st to January 1st goes beyond just a change of date. Historically, the celebration of New Year’s Day goes back to Roman times. The celebration was dedicated to the Roman god Janus who was the god of transitions and new beginnings. This god has two faces, one looking forward into the future, and one looking backward into the past.

Nowadays, New Year’s Day is often looked at as a reason for celebration and setting new resolutions, following the historical meaning to some extent. No matter what your situation is, the perception of a new year can give you the mental freedom to create a clean slate. You can set goals that align with your desires moving forward and work through recovery with a clear headspace and a clean start.

Many individuals choose to celebrate this transition with partying and drinking or substance use. This can bring up many negative feelings and distractions in your recovery journey. To get through this holiday successfully, try to remember the true meaning behind New Year’s Day. It is not meant to be a holiday specific to the use of substances. This holiday is created to help individuals have a clean slate and develop a clear perspective to move into the new year.

Determining Your Resolutions

One of the most difficult aspects of New Year’s Day is determining what resolutions you want to implement. As you have a plethora of goals set already in recovery, it may seem strenuous to implement new goals on top of that. It is okay to feel tension during this holiday period, but try to channel that tension into a form of self-improvement. This holiday is for you and sets you up to be your best through the upcoming year.

Your goals do not have to be extreme. You may choose to reiterate some of the goals you already have in place, dig deeper into their meanings, and set goals that align with the ones you already have. For example, you likely have the goal of maintaining sobriety. Maintaining sobriety is a lifelong goal that goes beyond the stretch of a year. To assist in accomplishing this goal, you may choose to implement a goal of developing coping skills to manage cravings, establishing a support system, or setting timelines within the year to reward yourself for your sobriety.

Your New Year’s resolutions may also be different than your recovery needs. You may implement a resolution to get a job or find a new means of employment. It may be to get into college or establish a new hobby. Your resolutions are for you. They do not have to be specifically related to recovery. Each goal you create should excite you. Set goals that help you feel fulfilled as you review them and that you are excited to work toward achieving.

Use Holistic Practices

The goal of holistic practices is to help you create a sense of balance within your life. As you engage with holistic practices, you will likely be able to determine what areas of your life are lacking, creating a divot within your equilibrium. Engaging in these practices can further your understanding of your needs and may develop further insight into what potential resolutions will be beneficial to implement.

Implementing Your Resolutions

Once you have a basic idea of what you wish to implement into your New Year’s resolutions, you are ready to begin the process of implementation. Using the SMART goals method, you can ensure that your goals are attainable within this year and are set up in a format that will lead you to success.

What Are SMART Goals?

The SMART goal method of implementing goals to ensure they are efficient and effective is another extremely useful tool in this process. Observe the following parts of the SMART acronym and ensure you have information for each of the points for the resolution you wish to implement:

• Specific: Ensure that your goal is detailed. Add specific details of what you wish to accomplish and what your result will look like.
• Measurable: Have a way to measure your resolution. You may choose to have check-up points throughout the year to ensure you are staying on track with accomplishing your goal. Setting up certain points and determining the details to help you recognize when you reach each stage leading up to your ultimate goal is essential.
• Achievable/Attainable: Is your goal realistic? Ensure that the resolution you choose to implement is something that you can achieve. It may feel far out of reach, but try to look at your goal with a realistic mindset. Making sure that your goal is within your reach can help you ensure that you can be successful in accomplishing it.
• Relevant: Make sure that your goal is relevant to your desires. Each resolution you choose to implement should positively contribute to your success in recovery, even if it is not specifically related to recovery. If your goal is more outside the box, ensure that it is relevant to what you want for yourself in the future.
• Time Bound: Ensure that your resolutions are going to be able to be completed within a year. If the goal you set should be completed in a shorter or longer timeframe, use them as an alternative goal rather than a New Year’s resolution. Creating steps and specifying the details of your resolution can help you to determine if the time frame is appropriate.

Implementing each of these aspects into setting your resolutions for the new year sets you up for success. This process may take a lot of consideration, as some of your initial ideas for resolutions may not meet all of these specifications. Ensuring that you adjust your goal to align with each of these needs is extremely beneficial, as it greatly increases your chances of success.

Use Reflection

Reflection on your previous resolutions is a great tool to use when implementing new ones. If you were successful in previous years, use some of the similar mechanisms that helped you succeed in the upcoming year. If you were unable to accomplish your resolutions through past years, look at potential aspects that may have halted your abilities.

Addressing previous failures allows you to learn from your past mistakes. Understand what you did or didn’t do that resulted in your inability to accomplish your resolution. During the planning of your resolution, implement strategies to help yourself overcome the obstacles that hindered your success in the past.

Don’t Put It Off

Once your New Year’s resolution is implemented, it is time to start working toward that goal. When goals are set to be accomplished over a year, it can be easy to push them to the side and plan to work on them later. Continuing to do this can lead you to end up putting the goal up on the back burner until it is too late to achieve it. Don’t procrastinate with your New Year’s resolutions. Start the year off right and begin to work toward these goals within the first week.

Review Your Goals

Throughout the year, review the goals you have set and follow up on your progress. You may choose to do this daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Use whatever time frame feels comfortable to you. During your follow-ups, check on the progress you have currently made and assess how far you still need to go. Reviewing your goals throughout the year can help to keep you on track to success and increase your chances of accomplishing each of these goals.

Writing your goals down is a great way to have a physical statement of what you should be reviewing during each of these points. By writing your goals down, your goals can also stick in your mind more effectively. During each review session, write down your progress in detail. This allows you to have a deeper reflection upon each follow-up and can be used next year to formulate new resolutions as well.

Be Confident

An essential aspect of implementing New Year’s resolutions is to be confident in your abilities to achieve them. It can be easy to dismiss your abilities if you have had a hard time accomplishing these resolutions in the past. As you go through each of these steps, you are giving yourself all of the power to be able to accomplish them. If your goal falls in line with each of these aspects, the only thing that can hold you back from being successful is your mind.

You can accomplish your goals effectively. Doubting your abilities will only start you off on the wrong path. No matter what mistakes you have made in the past, this is an opportunity for a fresh start. Let the new year bring out a new you. Have confidence in your abilities to succeed with these resolutions and follow up with each step to ensure you stay on track throughout the year. If you have a moment where you are lacking self-confidence, reach out to your support system or others within your sober living home to seek assistance or advice. Don’t cut yourself short of your abilities without giving yourself the full opportunities to thrive.

The new year provides you with an opportunity to create new resolutions and start your journey again with a clean slate. You can learn from your previous resolutions and work to set new goals that will help you grow this upcoming year. There are many skills that you can use to implement effective resolutions that will contribute to your success in recovery and other areas of your life. It is important to understand what has kept you from accomplishing goals in the past and use that information to set you up for success this upcoming year. To learn more about how to effectively implement New Year’s resolutions, reach out to Real Recovery Sober Living at (727) 290-9156.