5 Myths About Resolutions in Eating Disorder Recovery
After the holiday season ends, a New Year begins. Specifically, January 1st marks the beginning of a new era when individuals and their families return from vacations and start their work and school routines again. New Year’s Day also marks the beginning of setting resolutions, when individuals establish goals they want to achieve throughout the next twelve months. However, New Year’s resolutions can hurt individuals’s recovery journeys.
How New Year’s Resolutions Can Impact Mental and Physical Health
When the clock strikes midnight, January 1st marks the beginning of a new year. Individuals and their families will celebrate throughout the night and wake up knowing they’ll have the next twelve months to start new chapters, continue thriving in their routines, and make remarkable memories.
However, here are a few myths surrounding New Year’s resolutions that can negatively impact individuals’ mental and physical health while in eating disorder recovery:
Myth #1: New Year’s Resolutions Mean You Know Exactly What Needs To Change In Your Life
This first myth is false because setting a resolution requires a solid goal that reflects what you’d like to achieve throughout the new year. However, this myth can harm individuals in recovery because establishing a goal without understanding the purpose can make people feel less motivated and more pressured to meet the resolution within twelve months. Individuals will feel dissatisfied if the resolution doesn’t reflect the intentions behind one’s recovery. Instead, individuals should focus and work on why they’d like to change or achieve in the new year.
Myth #2: You Need To Make Bigger Goals Rather Than Smaller Ones
The second myth is false because individuals can feel overwhelmed with wanting to achieve more significant things and changes in their lives by setting New Year’s resolutions. For example, individuals in recovery could make one of their resolutions to develop a better relationship with food. However, recovery is a process, and individuals need time to establish better behaviors, and as such, can do this with smaller goals.
Myth #3: Making Changes Is Easy Throughout The Year
This third myth is false because wanting to implement small changes in one’s life, such as not using your phone for thirty minutes or finding a new hobby to enjoy, requires time and consistency until the goals become part of individual routines. The myth can affect one’s recovery because individuals can feel pressured into making changes instantly. Change can be scary, as taking on new challenges is tough, but it is also important to want to achieve things.
Myth #4: New Year’s Resolutions Make You Become a Brand New Person Once the Clock Hits Midnight
This fourth myth is false because a person doesn’t change overnight. For example, individuals in recovery set out to get better, led by a care team of professionals and a support network of loved ones. Gradually, with time, care, and love, individuals will begin to make small changes in their lives, eventually allowing them to develop better relationships with food and their bodies.
Myth #5: You Don’t Need To Write Your New Year’s Resolutions Down
This fifth and final myth is false because individuals who write down their resolutions either on a piece of paper, in their notes app, in a journal, or one’s preferred method can help themselves establish accountability and create a timeline that’ll work for their schedules. For example, individuals in recovery can develop plans with either themselves or their care team to achieve specific goals that will help them develop better eating habits and relationships with their bodies.
If you or someone you love is struggling with food anxiety or other eating disorder behaviors at the beginning of the new year, BALANCE eating disorder treatment center™ may be the right treatment for you.
BALANCE eating disorder treatment center™, located in New York City, offers free consultation calls to help you explore next steps. We provide in-person programming seven days a week and are in-network with UnitedHealthcare (UHC), Cigna, Emblem, and Oscar, with Aetna coverage coming soon. Support is available, and recovery is possible. Schedule a free consultation call with our admissions team here and stay connected with BALANCE on Instagram here.
Reference
Fuller, K., MD. (2018, December 28). Healthy New Year’s resolutions can improve your mental health. Here’s how. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happiness-is-a-state-of-mind/201812/five-myths-about-new-years-resolutions
This post was written by BALANCE Blog Contributor, Regina Colie (she/her).
Regina Colie is a blog contributor for BALANCE, whose previous work has been featured in Project HEAL and Nourishing NY. She is an alumnus of The New School of Social Research, where she received her Masters in Psychology. After attending Marymount Manhattan College, she had the opportunity to be published in Dr. Nava Silton’s book, The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Child, Adolescent, and Adult Development.
