New Year's Resolutions and Mental Health

Mental Health Matters

Dr. Shirley Huisman, MSW, LISW-CP/S, PhD

Owner/Therapist at Oasis Therapy Services

January 19th, 2026

By publication, most readers will have made New Year's resolutions and already have given up on them. While this can be disappointing, it is a common human experience. This got me thinking about the history of making resolutions at this time of year. Where did this practice come from? How did it become a “thing”? 

Multiple sources indicate that the practice has been around for thousands of years. Ancient Babylonia seems to be the birthplace of this practice and tradition, although it has not always looked as it does today. The turn of the year was in mid-March, coinciding with the planting of crops. It also happened to be a time when people reaffirmed their loyalty to their reigning king, or they crowned a new one. Out with the old, in with the new.

Additionally, people made promises to their gods to pay off their debts and a commitment to return objects they had borrowed. At that time, it seems the occasion was connected more to one’s relationship to the community (making good with the community on debts and material things).  Unlike today, where most people make commitments to themselves around some kind of behavior.  Today’s practices are focused much more on the individual. How things change!

Over the centuries, these practices morphed through the time of Julius Caesar, when the practice shifted to January first. The Romans offered sacrifices and promised upright behavior to their gods on the first day of the New Year, which gave pause to think about one’s past mistakes, with a resolve to do better in the future. People of The Way (before the term Christianity took hold) brought a strong religious component to these practices as well. Religious ceremonies and services marked followers’ commitments to renewal and improved behaviors. Interestingly, the phrase “New Year’s Resolutions” appears only as recently as the late 19^th century. 

There are some pockets of American culture where the connection between New Year's and religious practices is still observed. The religious denomination I grew up in still holds services to commemorate this turning of the calendar. Some hold both Old Year's services as well as New Year's services. But by and large, current cultural practices have taken on a much more secular tone, involving parades, marching bands, champagne, and dropping balls, to look back on the past year, and welcome in the new.

And of course, included in today’s practices is that of making resolutions. Some people decide to start an exercise routine, commit to eating healthier, or cut back on alcohol or other substance consumption, just to name a few. Typically, these commitments revolve around self-improvement, bolstered further by the uncomfortable consequences of dietary excesses of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and, of course, New Year’s Eve.  We have some strong incentives to make these new commitments. Our tight-fitting clothes, way too many hangovers, and for some of us, the awareness that our health has declined in the past year, are enough to push us into change resolutions.

So, what becomes of our resolutions once we have made them? How does this connect to mental health and wellbeing? It appears that people actually meet their own resolutions 8-9% of the time. Most are abandoned by the end of January. One might ask, “Why such a dismal success rate?” As it turns out, we set ourselves up for these failures through several resolution mechanisms.

Typically, we set unrealistic expectations. They may include losing thirty pounds by Valentine’s Day. Going to go to the gym every day. Deadlifting 50 pounds within the month, even though we’ve never ventured over to that side of the gym. Our resolutions tend to be very rigid, based on all-or-nothing thinking, and they lack support for our efforts. What I have listed here is, of course, somewhat extreme, but only to illustrate the point.

These kinds of resolutions tend to result in feelings of guilt (I cannot even keep a promise to myself), disappointment (I can’t even follow a diet for more than a week), and frustration (I have already failed, so I might as well eat a quart of Tillamook Premium Ice Cream). We may give up until morning when we tell ourselves we will start fresh or abandon our resolve altogether. This is hard on our mental health.

How can we make smarter, more realistic, and achievable resolutions? Resolutions that can boost our self-confidence, reduce our stress, and improve our mental health and life satisfaction?  Here are some ideas!

Grand resolutions rarely work. We tend to do better working towards smaller, consistent, and achievable behaviors or milestones.

Planning little goals along the way. An example might be resolving to increase our physical activity by going for a walk four days a week. This supports our mental health.

It works better to focus on changing one thing at a time, such as going to bed by 10 PM five days a week. Often, just by changing that one thing, we begin to see some other changes as a result. Getting enough sleep can change how our bodies metabolize nutrients and increase our mental sharpness. We may gain noticeable energy just by this one change in our routine. Change begets change. This helps our mental health.

It also helps to understand how your own body works. My mom struggled with obesity her entire life. She tried all kinds of diets and fads. She ate more “rabbit food” (high fiber, low-calorie vegetables) than she could shake a stick at. Those were her own words to describe her diet to no avail. I frankly think she eventually gave up the fight.

On the other hand, after retirement, my dad decided he wanted to lose some weight. He decided to cut out the bowl of ice cream he had every night before bed. One simple change. And….you guessed it. He lost weight. It drove my mom to distraction. They each had different genetic blueprints. It’s dangerous to compare ourselves to others because of this very fact. Understanding our own metabolism and chemistry helps our mental health.

It helps if we choose a goal or resolution that can be measured. Both examples above are measurable.  We can count four days a week.  You can measure this. I succeeded in walking for four days this past week. I have met my goal this week. This supports mental health.

Find multiple ways to measure your progress. Health can be measured in other ways besides stepping on a scale every day. Called Non-Scale-Victories, these can help us remain focused on the bigger picture. Perhaps the scale did not budge this past month, but my blood pressure readings have come down. Perhaps my clothes fit differently than they did a month ago. My labs came back, and all results are within “normal” range. This supports mental health.

Try to work on resolutions that are realistic. It is more likely that I will exercise four days a week as opposed to every day going forward. There will be days when it is simply not possible to devote specific time to exercising, but that does not have to mean I have failed. It is much healthier to reflect on the past month and realize that I met my goal of exercising four days each week, as opposed to looking at that same month,h believing that I have failed because I missed two days out of the entire month. This shift in perspective will help build self-confidence and feelings of self-efficacy. I can meet my own goals. This shift can impact how we think about tackling other difficult tasks. This, in turn, can reduce stress and improve mental and physical health.

Finally, seek out meaningful and effective support. You have a choice in who this is. Asking someone who is a natural pessimist and critic probably won’t help much. Find a walking buddy. Join with someone who also wants to change their eating habits. Committing to a walking buddy can make it easier to get up early enough to do so. My walking buddy counts on my being there. Or, I can share recipes with a friend who also wants to improve their eating habits. It also means that when I do stumble and eat that quart of Tillamook Ice Cream, there will be someone who I can tell that will not judge me.  Instead, they will support me in picking myself up and doing better tomorrow. We can laugh about the Tillamook rather than pile guilt onto our hearts. The latter always produces a greater tendency to slip again. This supports our mental health.

The elevator speech version of this is:

We have a lot of control over the terms of our resolutions. After all, we set those terms.

These are ways we can improve our chances of sticking with them and eventually seeing the outcomes we have set for ourselves. This means that we will feel more capable and confident, which supports our mental health.