Jacksonville counselor: Include practical strategies to navigate New Year's resolutions

I’ll be the first to admit, this year contained a lot of changes. At the beginning of the year, I was at a different job. I had been in the nonprofit sector for the past eight years of my life, and starting my new position put me back into direct clinical care. I moved around a bit, from an apartment with a friend to living with my partner, to now staying with family through the holidays.

I’m also in the process of switching up my workout routine that I’ve had the past six years to focus on long-distance running. All that to say, there has been a lot of “new” in my life this year. When thinking about the upcoming New Year, I look at what those changes have meant for my life and how I want to use those as motivation for change going into 2024.

A recent Forbes poll surveyed Americans on their 2024 New Year’s resolutions, noting that 48% would be focusing on physical health and 36% would be on improving mental health. Seemingly, mental and physical health/fitness are at the forefront of people's minds going into 2024. Utilizing goal-making skills is a great way to improve overall health.

However, setting resolutions can be tricky. People can put a lot of weight on them and then can be upset when they aren’t achieved.

To give ourselves a better chance of succeeding, the weeks leading up to the New Year are when we should start mentally preparing for change. When setting goals, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

First and foremost, set goals that motivate you. This will help you be more likely to keep them. Second, look at setting goals or resolutions that are framed as S.M.A.R.T — specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound — goals. Breaking it down a bit further can be helpful as well.

A specific goal/resolution states what you want to do and utilizes action words. One that is measurable will provide a target and a way to evaluate it. An achievable resolution would be possible and attainable. If it is relevant, it would make sense to one's life. Finally, a resolution that is time-bound will state a specific timeframe in which to achieve said goal.

Using myself as an example, I have a goal and resolution to run our local Gate River Run, a half marathon in Indiana in April or May and a full marathon in October or November. For the Gate River Run, my goal is simply: to run the Gate River Run.

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I break down my training schedule week by week in a way that I can not only measure it, but it would also be challenging yet achievable given my work and other commitments. It is relevant to my life given that I love running, and I have the race day set as the time in which I need to complete it. For me, running is both a physical and mental relief, so it works well.

It’s easy to phrase resolutions in big, lofty ways such as “I’m going to get a new job,” or “I’m going to buy a new house,” or “I’m going to go to the gym every day.” Could those things happen? Absolutely. But it is a little bit more manageable if we break those goals down into smaller parts.

As we begin this new year, let us all take a second and make these resolutions (ones that are S.M.A.R.T), challenge us. That way, they will serve as motivation for our physical and mental health in the new year.

Hallie Kritsas is a licensed mental health counselor with Thriveworks in Jacksonville.

This guest column is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of the Times-Union. We welcome a diversity of opinions.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville residents, be 'SMART' when setting goals for the New Year