Expert Advice for Well-Being in the New Year

"The end of the year is a time of reflection, community, family, isolation and loneliness for many, and indulgence and resolutions for health and well-being in the next year's resolutions. Each year, motivation spikes, the January sprint ensues, and for many, it then fades away into all-too-familiar regret and a sense of failure. So, how can we sustain well-being long after the excitement of the calendar flipping over has faded into remembering to write the date correctly?"

"For many of us, the holidays can feel like we are a Tree in the Storm-the wind is gusting on all sides, and we're expected not just to bend, but to stay rooted, upright, festive. Our well-being is challenged by affordability concerns, busy scheduling, rich food, calories, and the internal pressure of expectation: to be joyful, generous, connected, and whole-all at once."

"Three challenges are frequently stacked on each other: Relational load - Family, friends, colleagues: they are springboards for past patterns. While joyful patterns get amplified, unfortunately, tense patterns get magnified. Resource scarcity - Abundance is elusive when it comes to time, energy, and money. Non-negotiable limitations in our resources are a source of sadness or anger. Sometimes, being only human, we mismanage our resources, and that still hurts."

""Perfect holiday" idealism - Expectations, both imposed from culture and from within ourselves, can cause us to feel like we are falling short. Polished social media posts from others don't help. So the real challenge? Not the weather-it's fragmentation in the face of so much happening at once. It's finding ways to be whole and connected. Accruing joy and staying intact"

The end of the year brings reflection, community, family, isolation, indulgence, and resolutions, often followed by a January motivation spike that fades into regret for many. Holidays can feel like being a Tree in the Storm, pressured to stay festive while facing affordability concerns, busy schedules, rich food, and internal expectations to be joyful and connected. Three frequently stacked challenges are relational load, resource scarcity, and "perfect holiday" idealism. Relational patterns can amplify tension, limited time and money create sadness or anger, and idealized expectations increase feelings of failure. The central difficulty is fragmentation amid many simultaneous demands, and the aim is to find ways to be whole, connected, and to accrue joy while staying intact.

Read at Psychology Today