New Year, new you?

Happy New Year! Not only are we at the beginning of a new year but a new decade. Endings and beginnings give us a chance to reflect on ourselves, our relationships and our actions including what has gone well and things we might like to be different. We may identify things we want to be different and make plans for change, for example making new year's resolutions. Research shows that by mid-January most people have already abandoned their new year's resolutions. Why? Because making changes, even if they're changes you really want to make, is very difficult. To change we need to consistently do something different to what we were doing before. In other words, we need to stop walking our usual path and carve out a new one; we need to notice when we start to follow our old ways, stop ourselves and remind ourselves what we want to do instead, why and also have the motivation to do it.

Change is a complex process, even for things that seem simple like beginning an exercise routine or going to bed earlier, which is why when we try to make changes alone it can be really difficult. Therapy can help you to make changes by first helping you understand why you have been doing things the way you have been - there's always a good reason! Secondly, therapy can help you to develop a complete plan of how to do things differently, the barriers you may encounter, ways to overcome these barriers, keep motivated and ultimately make the changes you desire.

#resolution #change #goal