Stick with the new year's resolutions, but February 1st is a more realistic kick-off date, writes Sylvia Thompson
AN ESTIMATED 1.3 million adults in the Republic are currently making, or have made, new year's resolutions that they "resolve" to carry out in the following months.
The most common resolutions made are to do with losing weight, eating more healthily, spending less, cutting back on alcohol or giving up smoking.
However, there is a whole range of other common resolutions that people make at this time of the year. These include plans to become more organised (cleaning the house, catching up on paperwork, de-cluttering), to spend more time with family and friends, to travel more or get more qualifications.
Resolutions to find a mate, change your job, find a new hobby, help others, buy a new house, have a calmer life or enjoy life more are perhaps longer term goals yet they often get aired at this time of the year too.
The start of a new year is the most popular time for people to make resolutions but psychologists are beginning to question whether this is the most appropriate time to plan to make changes and break bad habits.
In fact, new research points out that up to 85 per cent of these people will have failed to keep their resolution within 11 months.
Psychotherapists Seán Collins and Rhoda Draper at the Ardagh Clinic in Dublin have carried out some specific research on new year's resolutions. "Unfortunately, studies suggest that the new year is possibly one of the least effective times for change given that it is mid-winter with increased family stress, overindulgence and financial outlay," explains Collins.
"Many people abandon attempts at new year's resolutions altogether because they have failed so often before. Each time someone attempts and fails, there is a significant chance they will not even try again," says Collins.
"When people are allowed to fail, they tend to become dispirited and depressed and, in the process, lose robustness, resilience, stress hardiness and creativity," he says.
Collins and Draper suggest that people would be far better using January 1st to plan some important lifestyle change and then devote the rest of the month to impeccable preparation for their launch date on February 1st when spring begins.
Draper says that new year's resolutions often fail because people keep their resolution secret (so there's no one to prove success to). "They also fail because people don't have a specific plan. They lack motivation, belief or self-confidence or they leave it to the last minute and make resolutions based on what's bothering them or is on their mind at that time," says Draper.
Mary O'Callaghan, psychotherapist at the Oscailt Integrative Health Centre in Dublin says that human habits are so deep rooted that it takes a lot more than willpower to change them.
"The practice of trying to make such changes on January 1st is questionable if we consider psychoanalyst Carl Jung's insights into the self-regulatory nature of the psyche," she explains. "According to Jung, when we seek to find balance in our lives, we have the tendency to swing from one extreme to another. Hence the danger of choosing January 1st as our "turning point" is that we risk swinging from the excesses of the festive season to the over-ambitious resolutions of the new year."
O'Callaghan says that the most empowering aspect of any resolution is to experience our capacity to change and that less is more. She gives an example of how a simple change in an everyday activity in her own life helped her discover personal habits. "I resolved to really stop everything when I came to a red light when driving or cycling," she explains.
"Really stopping meant more than just pulling to a halt, it also meant showing interest in my impatient tendency to be ahead of myself. So when stopped at red lights, I took the opportunity to become aware of my breath and observe how strong my inner pressure to keep rushing was.
I gradually learned how relaxing and nourishing attention to the breath can be in such circumstances. I also discovered that curiosity is a powerful non-judgmental tool in embracing life and life changes in a new way."
Collins and Draper believe that the energy and motivation that people put into new year's resolutions is an untapped resource that could be used to prevent illness. They suggest that the lifestyle changes that people embark on - eat more healthily, give up smoking and/or drinking alcohol in excess, exercise regularly - would have a direct impact on health budgets if individuals were given help to follow through on them.
"One study showed that as little as 90 minutes of training in lifestyle change would give hard-pressed GPs and practice nurses the tools to help people carry out these changes," says Collins. "Giving people facts and information is not enough, change comes from accurate information together with learned skills and harnessing the power of emotion."
Interestingly, if people succeeded in what are the most popular new year's resolutions, they would also significantly reduce their risk profile for common illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and several cancers.
Collins and Draper point out the possible savings in health budgets in a policy document, New year's resolutions 2009 and the Irish health budget crisis.
And in an attempt to find better use for the "potent, spontaneous and untapped energy" that people put into new year's resolutions, the Ardagh Clinic has launched a website to help people have more successful new year's resolutions.
The site www.iknowwhattodobut.com includes a new year's resolution kit available until February 1st, and a chance to be involved in a motivational workshop in January.
Top five resolutions
1. Get into shape. Exercise regularly. Look after my body.
2. Eat less. Eat more healthily. Lose weight.
3. Spend less. Pay off debt. Get out of debt.
4. Cut back on or give up alcohol.
5. Give up smoking.
Five reasons why resolutions fail
1 The resolution is kept secret so there's no reason to prove its success.
2 Not enough time is put into planning how it would succeed.
3 The individual isn't sufficiently motivated or committed to the particular resolution.
4 The individual lacks the self-belief or confidence to achieve it.
5 The new year's resolution is made at the last minute based on what's bothering someone at that particular time.
*Adapted from New Year's Resolutions 2009 & The Irish Health Budget Crisis by Sean Collins and Rhoda Draper