Healthy New Year’s Intentions for Moms and Caregivers
When New Year’s Eve rolls around each year…
…do you set healthy New Year’s resolutions and goals for the year ahead? January is often a busy time for dietitians, fitness professionals and healthcare workers in the wellness space, because people tend to view this time of the year as a period of reinvention, especially as it relates to motherhood.
You might see lots of “New Year, New Me” memes start circulating, more weight loss ads, and social media posts about healthy resolutions, physical activity goals, and healthy lifestyle commitments for the year ahead.
There is nothing inherently wrong with a “New Year, New Me” approach, and goal setting can help kickstart a healthy lifestyle and lead to positive changes. But as someone who makes a living, counseling mothers on nutrition and health, the downside of setting New Year’s resolutions for moms is that motherhood is already fraught with enough self-doubt, and stating that the New Year should bring with it a “New Me” implies that the “you” from the year prior wasn’t good enough. Which isn’t the case. You deserve better.
This past year wasn’t easy
This New Year’s, how about we appreciate what we learned from the past year, who we were, what we lost. And set healthy intentions for 2024 that weave together more self-acceptance, more appreciation for who we are and how we got here, along with a sprinkling of hope for how we’d like the year ahead to take shape?
What does this type of healthy intention setting look like for moms? Depends on who you are.
For some, instead of simply resolving to lose weight in the New Year, it can look like appreciating your current body weight and the amazing ways your body cares for your kids, while prioritizing a healthy diet that includes your favorite foods. Instead of committing to a strict physical activity schedule with no room for the inevitable curveballs that life tends to throw, setting healthy intentions can look like putting into place some ways that you and your family can all be more physically active together.
In other words, you can set healthy intentions for the future and still appreciate the person you were in the past and are today.
You may be thinking sure, this all seems great, but will I know that I have been successful? And how do I do this in a meaningful way for me and my motherhood journey?
Research suggests that intentions have little to no effect unless people approach them with an accompanying plan, an attainable outcome, a support system, and some checks and balances to keep their intentions front and center. This 2020 study on New Year’s resolutions is no exception, so here are 5 simple steps that can help make healthy New Year’s intentions more successful and satisfying:
Create a vision board…
…as a tangible reminder of how you’d like the year ahead to look and feel. So, cliché I know. But vision boards can help you stay focused and clear about what you want. This is a fun activity to do with kids – grab some magazines, newspapers, markers, crayons, stickers, etc. and create a visual layout of your intentions for the year ahead.
2. Set realistic intentions.
Too often we compare ourselves to an unattainable ideal. Comparing our lives to a perfectly curated Instagram feed or magazine spread isn’t helpful for many reasons, especially when self-acceptance is a part of the intention. We are real people with messy problems! Let your intentions be attainable, realistic, and true to who you are.
3. Chart your course.
Create a roadmap that breaks the process of realizing your intentions into smaller, bite-sized goals that can add up to larger successes over time. Without a plan in place, setting an intention can seem daunting. What will it take for you to feel that you have realized your intention? Make a list, setting intentions for specific situations that can help split up the load into smaller achievements. Plan, plan, and plan some more. A good chess player doesn’t win by making sporadic and emotionally reactive moves. The wins happen when there is a long-term strategy and plan in place that leaves room for curveballs.
4. Plan for setbacks.
Have a resilience plan in place for setbacks and times when things don’t go as you intended. Setbacks are inevitable and can be incredible confidence builders depending on how they are approached. For example, if your intention is to eat healthier this year, know that a couple of unhealthy eating events do not mean you are failing unless you view them as failing. A few doughnuts can’t unravel all of the healthy dietary changes you’ve made unless you beat yourself for having eaten them. If you start finding that a certain eating habit is working against you and the intentions you’ve set for yourself, recognize what is leading you away from your goals, recover immediately without engaging in negative self-talk about the habit, and recommit to your intention and why it’s important to you. This process builds self-esteem because it helps remind you how resilient you are, and how much you can overcome.
5. Cultivate your sources of support.
Spend more time with the friends, neighbors, teachers, partners, communities you connect with in person, online, or on social media – and anyone else who helps you stay true to your intentions while also appreciating who you are without them. Harness the power of technology to help you with this as well! Sometimes the support and structure you need to stay on top of your goals can easily come in the form of an alarm you set on your phone to remind you to meditate, take a walk, or stretch for a few minutes.
If we’ve learned anything from the past couple of years, it’s that life is precious, time together is not a given, and there is much to be thankful for. Let’s let 2024 be the year where we can embrace the tummy that made the precious little person sleeping in your arms, and the perfectly imperfect messy mess that is home. A New Year’s resolution is just a coat of paint over a masterpiece that was already there. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather use intentions for 2024 to stretch that masterpiece into an even larger, richer canvas.