Are you one of those rare people that actually achieve your New Years resolutions? WELL DONE YOU! You're in a tiny percentile of people who stay the course. In a landmark study conducted by the University of Scranton, US in 1988, the study revealed that 77% of people who pledged to a New Year's resolution only stuck to it for a week and a mere 19% actually fulfilled their resolutions within 2 years.  According to another survey in 2018, by Statista, its only getting worse with only 4% of people saying they stuck to their New Year's resolutions (Buchholz, 2019).

Looking at 2020 for example, not surprisingly, the most common New Year's resolutions made for 2020, were mostly centred around health, starting an exercise program/exercising more (50%) eating more healthily (43%), losing weight (37%), reducing stress (34%), getting more sleep (30%), or simply living life to its fullest.

But that was before Covid-19 stuck a spoke in the wheel.

According to a research paper issued in November 2020 in the medical journal Nutrients, “We reported that 38.8% of respondents increased their body weight by an average of 2.6 kg and our findings showed that 45.9% did not practice physical exercise during lockdown and, in this group, 28.7% did practice physical activity before confinement” (López-Moreno, M; Lopez, M; Miguel, M; Garcés-Rimón, M. 2020).  As for mental health, according to a study conducted in 2020, “We observed that the COVID–19 crisis is indeed impacting negatively on the mental well–being of individuals and found that 37.1% of the participants reported suffering from nervousness and stress to a greater extent.” (Casagrande, M; Favieri, F; Tambelli, R; Forte, G. 2020)

So where's the problem? Obviously there's nothing wrong with us, rather its the tradition itself. We tend to set lofty goals for ourselves and have unrealistic expectations thinking we can tackle our challenges HARD and FAST, then fail spectacularly! Then we pick ourselves up again and most of us put the resolutions in the ‘too hard basket’ and our behaviour remains at the same pre-resolution setting. Worse still, we seem to slide even further back, throwing our hands up in despair before giving up all together and feeling even more miserable.

Looking a bit doom & gloom…?! Well, contrary to popular belief, there IS a way to make your News Years Resolutions STICK without throwing in the towel.

Lets look at the word RESOLUTION. Its a very strong word, its demanding and screams “I MUST!” with no room for failure, yet its pretty much inevitable that we will fail. We don’t really respond very well to this word, and when we don’t, we are ashamed, see ourselves as abject failures and berating ourselves.

We are simply being unreasonable and unrealistic about resolutions.

Think about some of the resolutions you may have set in the past, for example, you may have gained 12 kilos in 12 months, yet say to yourself, “I’m going to lose 12 kilos in 6 weeks” or “I’m going to start yoga” (but you've never even tried yoga before), or how about this, “I’m going to stop smoking or drinking alcohol” (possibly habits of a lifetime)? Are you seeing a pattern here? These are all BIG asks, or you've never done them before and quite frankly unsustainable, which is why we fail, and slide backwards.

Recalling Lao Tzu, the ancient Chinese philosopher and writer (6th century – 4th century BC) famous line “Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step”.

Successful behavioural change comes only in stages and how long it takes is all up to you. Understanding behavioural change (especially your own), is critical to the success of your mission. If you are in the minority of being an “all or nothing” person, determination and grit will see you through, but if you're like most of us, then we need to follow Lao Tzu’s advice, “one step at a time”. Or as my mentor once said to me, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time”.

So lets approach these ‘resolutions’ one step at a time. Here are 10 tips to keep you “eating your elephant”.

1. Be realistic – set sustainable mini goals, for example, don’t deny or deprive yourself by saying “I’m never going to eat chocolate again” (because you know you will), rather say “I’m only going to eat chocolate once a week and treat myself with a little bar and not a big block”. That's doable.
2. Write it down – I recommend to my clients they invest in a pretty journal, something meaningful and personal. Expressing your emotions, goals, food diary, progress etc. through a journaling exercise is an excellent way of ‘keeping it real’ and having something to refer back to. Ive been doing this since January 2012 and I still keep writing, reading and reflecting. This is lifesaver and will help keep you motivated.
3. Forward planning – I always say to my clients, if a weight loss programme is required, the key to success lies in the planning, emptying out the cupboards, planning the menus, and so planning the shopping. Also mentally preparing for changes ahead and making sure you are ready for this.
4. Outline the plan – decide how you'll tackle the temptation to skip your yoga or exercise class, or have that pastry. Recruit a friend who can be ‘on call’ for when you're experiencing the wobblies, or maybe need a ‘pep talk’ or find an exercise buddy.
5. Talk about it – to EVERYONE. No secrets here thank you! Your friends and family want you to succeed but they cant help unless you let them in, this also helps you keep accountable to them and yourself.
6. Reward yourself – set milestones, for example, if you're stopping smoking then set celebration milestones such as first day, first week, first month etc. My reward when I stopped smoking 60 cigarettes a day (30 years ago, which it took four attempts) was to have a celebration and save every single penny into my ‘I Love Me account’, do this for a minimum of a year and you'll be amazed at how much you will have saved. One of my clients has been doing this for 10 years now and has enough money to buy a house! That's staggering to think all that money had been literally ‘going up in smoke’. 
7. Monitor your progress. This is where your journal and milestones comes into effect, because little short term goals are waaaaaaay easier to achieve than HUGE unattainable goals. Lets take weight loss for example, instead of focusing on losing 12 kilos in total, rather focus on losing 1 kilo at a time, using your journal to keep on track and rewarding yourself.
8. No more self-flagellation – be kind to yourself and don’t obsess with the occasional slip. Remember, one mouthful at a time and do the very best you can, every day. Be okay with slips and don’t let guilt rule you.
9. Perseverance – you're implementing a HUGE behavioural change and persistence pays off. Experts say about 21 days are required to make a new behaviour to become a habit and about 6 months to make it stick and become a normal part of you, the NEW you.
10. Keep going! Remember the words of Yoda “Try not. Do or do not”.  If we ‘try’ we are already giving ourselves permission to fail. So keep doing it, and do it again & again & again. Come mid February and you're thinking about chucking it all in in, DON'T! Look back, read your diary, look at your weight loss, look how far you improved in your (for example) yoga practice etc. Don't panic if you've run out of steam, simply recommit yourself to another 24 hours (one bite at a time), you KNOW what you're capable of (you've come this far) and doing anything for 24 hour increments is mentally achievable, physically sustainable and will just build upon the last 24 and so on, and you'll be tickedyboo & dandy in no time at all.

You’ve made it through the year, so let raise a toast to New Intentions. You've got this! And when you're ready,  to shed the weight of the year, and if you want; we, at VaVa Yoga are ready and waiting for you, supporting you on your new journey to a healthier happier you.

Namaste, Ashlí

References

• Buchholz, K. (2019) America’s top New Years Resolutions 2020, Statista. Available at: www.statista.com/chart/20309/ us-new-years-resolutions-2020/ (Accessed: 15 December 2020).
• Casagrande, M; Favieri, F; Tambelli, R; Forte, G. (2020) ‘The enemy who sealed the world: effects quarantine due to the COVID-19 on sleep quality, anxiety, and psychological distress in the Italian population’, Sleep Medicine, 75, pp. 12–20. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2020.05.011.
• López-Moreno, M; Lopez, M; Miguel, M; Garcés-Rimón, M.  (2020) ‘Physical and psychological effects related to food habits and lifestyle changes derived from Covid-19 home confinement in the Spanish population’, Nutrients, 12(11), 
• pp. 1–17. doi: 10.3390/nu12113445.

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