Best resolutions for your mental health, suggested by an expert

Before welcoming a brand new year, many of us like to work on a list of new year resolutions aiming to give the coming year some sort of purpose. The list sometimes gets too long and unviable and the goals listed in it tend to get unrealistic. In order to achieve your new year resolutions, experts say it’s best to keep them simple and realistic.

While the process of setting goals may give us a temporary high, not able to implement them can make us feel like a failure. This could increase anxiety and stress in people.

While the most popular resolutions are generally around physical health, this year mental health should be the priority, say experts.

2021 has been a hard year for almost all of us considering pandemic affected our lives in multiple ways. This New Year, experts suggest the focus should be on self-healing and mindfulness to recharge ourselves for the coming months.

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“While some resolutions seem motivating at first but they can put an individual under a lot of pressure later on and create feelings of anxiety and decreased self-esteem. It can be hard for many of us to stay motivated for a long time even when one has chosen a simpler, more realistic goal,” says Maitri Dhingra, Counseling Psychologist at Kaleidoscope- a unit of Dr. Bakshi’s Healthcare.

A short-term goal works best for people and it doesn’t have to be something which is absolutely new, says Dr. Sonal Anand, Psychiatrist, Wockhardt Hospitals, Mira Road.

“It can be something which you could not fulfill last year but something realistic,” says the expert.

Dr Anand says one should give priority to self-healing this year and develop resilience for better mental health.

“Mindfulness is something we should be focussing on this year. Another resolution could be self-forgiveness as a lot of things are not in our hands in pandemic era and we can’t be responsible for everything, so letting go and forgiving yourself should be the motto this year,” says Dr Anand.

The expert also suggests focussing on a more active lifestyle rather than sedentary for the coming year. “Children especially need to be on top of their health and should focus on indoor games, exercising etc,” says the psychiatrist.

“Self-healing as a resolution can be beneficial in several ways. One should also work on developing self-awareness in order to become a better person because when you are a better person, things are bound to become better around you,” says Dr Anand.