Believe it or not, New Year’s resolutions have already come and gone even though we’re only 3 weeks into January. Many people have stepped away from reaching their goals. How can you identify and commit to your New Year’s Resolutions? More so, how does sustainable change happen?
Let’s look at becoming a vegetarian for example:
- Identify the overall goal of the resolution. For some vegetarians, they are motivated by keeping animal and environmental welfare in mind. Others feel better solely eating plant nutrients. Thinking about the overall goal reminds you why you’re committing to making the change.
- Create realistic, manageable, and small objectives that make up the larger goal. Giving up meat in totality for the first time ever is a massive undertaking if you’ve never done it before. A realistic and manageable objective could be scaffolding this goal by starting 1 day a week without meat, and slowly working your way to 6-7 days a week without meat. This process could take weeks or months, depending on your comfort and familiarity with the changes.
- Look at the barriers. A major barrier in becoming a vegetarian is the lifestyle change. Looking at meals that you enjoy, substituting meat, and finding new recipes are all thought provoking and time consuming actions. A barrier could be the lack of meal preparation and the familiarity of ordering takeout from your favorite restaurant which may not support your lifestyle change.
- Engage in the change. Now is the time to commit and do it! Engagement could also mean bringing some friends and family members on board. It could be a weekly “I did it” group text to your supporters, or finding communities of people who are also on this lifestyle journey.
- Attitude of gratitude and compassion. Are you going to slip up? Absolutely. This is where it’s important to show yourself some compassion and to be gentle with yourself instead of throwing in the towel.
Good luck!
