It’s that time of year again where we are once again overwhelmed with New Year’s resolutions, endless emails from that gym you never signed up to, and supermarkets flooded with Veganuary displays. New Year’s resolutions have become a divisive tradition. People take the new calendar year as an opportunity to better themselves, but is this idea damaging and unrealistic
For many, the new year is a clean slate where they can leave all the chaos of the previous year behind them. It allows them to separate themselves from the last year and focus on something new. From learning languages to getting active, there are so many ways to reinvent yourself as ‘the new you’ but is this tradition realistic? January can already be a stressful period for many with the comedown from Christmas, financial worries for many- even the weather is dark and dreary! Fighting the January blues is difficult by itself, trying to reinvent yourself at the same time amounts to a momentous task.
New Year’s resolutions perpetuate this constant feeling that we are not enough that is already woven into so many parts of 21st-century life. With the rise of social media and the ‘girl boss’, there is an expectation for us to keep becoming better and better and reach unrealistic and unattainable goals. The original sentiment of resolutions may have been wholesome, but it has been manipulated by capitalism and social media to make people feel like they are not good enough This toxic culture of building insecurity has been disguised as entirely focused on the consumer’s well-being; under the pretence that they are simply promoting healthy habits and self-improvement. There is nothing wrong with promoting healthy lifestyles but this isn’t the intention of these companies and campaigns. Instead, they are promoting insecurity and shame that fuels self-hatred which leads to more business for them.
Diet culture is a dangerous part of society which becomes an even more prominent feature every January. Supermarket and Instagram influencers take advantage of post-Christmas insecurities by promoting their supposedly healthy new diets and dramatic weight-loss programs. Instead of making sustainable and gradual changes to their diet, people take on unrealistic fad diets and end up yo-yo dieting. Shame and stigma are attached to certain foods and habits which leaves many feeling guilty for not partaking.
The biggest problem with New Year’s resolutions is the pressure that they create. While the clean slate is tempting, it is very easy to become defeatist and give up after one setback. Despite valiant attempts, most resolutions fail by February, with recipe books and gym memberships left abandoned. As soon as you slip up, it becomes apparent that this is not a ‘new you’. The effort and hard work feels futile and any future attempts at similar lifestyle changes are dreaded. Instead, as a society, we should endorse gradual and more realistic lifestyle changes. There is no point making unrealistic, drastic lifestyle changes if they are unsustainable: you will just end up exactly where you were before but feel far worse for it. If you want to pick up a new habit or adjust something in your life, there is nothing wrong with that. However, you don’t have to wait until January to do it and it does not need to be an entire lifestyle change. If you are serious about your resolutions and not just conforming to societal pressures, gradual changes are the most sustainable. Regardless of what you do, you will not see immediate results so why change your life at that pace?
Adapting and improving your life is a pretty healthy and self-aware habit to have, providing it’s conducted in the right way. However, do not let yourself be pressured by what you might see others doing. Modify your lifestyle and habits on your own time. Just because it is a New Year, you do not have to be a ‘New You’; you are enough as you are.
