It’s almost the end of January so a huge well done to anyone who has kept up their new year resolutions. Apparently, it’s very much a young persons’ game. According to Forbes research, 51% of people aged 18 – 34 planned to set new year’s resolutions in 2024 compared to 34% aged 25 – 54 and 12% aged 55+. If I look at my history with resolutions, that’s probably a reflection of how often and how quickly they have been abandoned over the years or perhaps, more positively, a reflection that as we get older, we get happier with who we are?
A few of the other stats that I enjoyed are:
- Liverpool had the highest number of resolutionists 40% and Brighton the fewest at 16%.
- Unsurprisingly, the top four goals are ‘exercise more’, ‘lose weight’, ‘improve diet’ & ‘financial goals’ which I assume would all help to achieve the number 5 goal – ‘reduce stress’.
- 1% track their goal through a spreadsheet. (This would be me)
- 21% drop out by February and 6% succeed in maintaining their resolution for 9 – 12 months (This would not be me)
I have always struggled with New Years resolutions. To be fair, I’ve always struggled with resolutions at any time. Having been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about a year and a half ago, I panicked and managed to change my eating habits to successfully lose over 2 stone. My tests then showed that I was at pre-diabetic levels. I relaxed and 6 months later am back at the same weight. I’m now determined to lose it again over the next 6 months, but my resolution is very changeable. It is always helped by David of course. The other night, I was settling him down to sleep and he laughed and said you have a big tummy but little legs. (My weight does definitely settle round the waist – imagine a Halloween pumpkin costume with skinny stalk legs). I pointed out that yes, I was working on that, and he said then you will be skinny as spaghetti. I said that this was unlikely due to my love of chocolate and David assured me that he was going to get Daddy to hide all the chocolate in the house. At least I will use up energy hunting for it.
I will continue to try and change my lifestyle and stick to my goals but it’s hard and if it’s hard for me, I’m pretty sure it is hard for everyone so please don’t kick yourself if you have already broken your resolution. Brush yourself off and try again at any point of the year you like.
There is one resolution that appeared on my list every year for 20 years – ‘get pregnant’. I finally kept one 😊