New Year’s Resolutions (The Nitty Gritty)
Well, hello Beyond the Threshold. After not posting for an awkwardly long amount of time, I have returned!
I know you missed me ;)
This week, we're going to talk about the reality of New Year's resolutions and how easy it is to give up on them, with some tips on how to stay strong in your goals!
The new year rolls around, and everyone and their mother says, “This is the year I make a change.” Okay, sure, but how are we gonna stay strong in that goal? I find that consistency is key, but how long do we stay consistent until it just becomes routine? Forming a habit is hard and takes time. In an article released by the University of South Australia, researcher Annabel Mansfield shares the truth behind what it takes to form habits. I found this article very interesting. Give it a read if you’re curious about a more in-depth discussion about habit forming! The article is short and sweet and gets right to the point. The first thing I’m dissecting from the article is, “...UniSA researchers found that new habits can begin forming within about two months (median of 59–66 days) but can take up to 335 days to establish.” Now, right off the bat, how many of us stay consistent for at least 2 months when starting something new? We make a change, go hard for three maybe four weeks, and then slowly give up because we’re not settled into the routine yet, and it still feels like a chore sometimes. I had in my head, unknown where I “learned” it from, that a habit only takes three weeks to form, making it frustrating when after three weeks It didn’t feel like a habit but still a chore.
If you’ve ever experienced this, through research we learn that it’s normal.
So, we know that consistency is key, and a habit takes upwards of a year to form, or at least two months, varying from person to person. What else works to stay strong in our goals?
Personally, my goals for 2026 were to be more intentional, with life, friends, choices, purchases, everything, to work out and get healthier for me, not for looks, but just to feel better and stronger, and to be organized. Staying organized is a work in progress, being more intentional is working out well, and is easier than the others. My biggest focus is being healthier. I hate waking up early; it genuinely makes me feel sick sometimes when I have to get out of bed before I’m ready to. Making the second point to rocking your new year’s goals, MAKE YOURSELF UNCOMFORTABLE. I may feel sick in the morning, but it will pass. I may want to sleep more, but I know my days run better after a workout, and being uncomfortable can be okay sometimes. There cannot be growth without doing the hard, scary, and uncomfortable things.
Another setback in goals for the New Year, and in general, is expecting immediate change. We cannot change overnight, we can make a difference, and take steps, but changing something immediately doesn’t typically happen. If you want to use your phone less, you can try not to get on it a lot. The reality is that you’ll stay off it for a few hours and then pick it right back up, falling into the same old routine that discourages you from trying again. This applies to working out or exercising; you want results, to be slimmer, more fit, and muscular. After two or three weeks, we look for results, and when we can’t physically see them, we get angry and discouraged.
If you want your New Year’s goals to stick, the three most important things, in my opinion, are CONSISTENCY, BEING UNCOMFORTABLE, and REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS. Without these, goals fall through the cracks, and a cycle repeats of “next year for sure”, but it’s never next year, and we need to stop waiting; there is no deadline to helping yourself and reaching your goals. Starting can happen anytime; we don’t need a New Year for a fresh start. If you’re really passionate about something, you can accomplish it.
I am very excited for this New Year, as lots of things could change and will change. I graduate from college, got my passport for the first time, will be traveling out of the country for the first time, turn 21, celebrate four years of love with my partner, and I'm sure much more will come about as months go on. All of this is so exciting, but it can also be so scary. Change makes me uncomfortable, very often, but as I said, growth can only happen when we face the uncomfortable.
I hope whatever resolutions you made for 2026 are true to yourself and will only help you improve. If you’re worried you won’t follow through on your habits, the article referenced and linked in this post has additional research on their website that can be very educational in helping you stay strong in your goals.
This post was so fun to research and write. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you next week.
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Goodbye for now, see you in the next one!
Works Cited
Myth busted: How long healthy habits actually take to set in. (n.d.). Home. https://www.unisa.edu.au/unisanews/2025/february/myth-busted-how-long-healthy-habits-actually-take-to-set-in/
