How To Best Keep Your New Year’s Resolution When You Battle Depression

The new year is fast approaching, and now may be a great time to start considering a New Year’s resolution for 2020. However, for those coping with depression, the stress, anxiety, and pressure that goes along with developing and keeping a New Year’s resolution often adds up quickly.

Depression is a mood disorder that can affect people at all stages of life. It causes emotional and physical problems, and sometimes makes a person believe that life isn’t worth living. If a person dealing with depression experiences sadness and hopelessness when thinking about the new year, this individual may put off a New Year’s resolution entirely.

Depression can also make it difficult for a person to think and concentrate. As a result, depression can impact a person’s ability to make decisions, and can cast doubt on a person’s ability to follow through on a New Year’s resolution.

Fatigue is a common depression symptom as well. If a person feels tired and exhausted due to depression, this individual is unlikely to feel any urgency to create a New Year’s resolution or stick with it for an entire year.

In addition to these hurdles, if a person manages to make a New Year’s resolution and fails to stick to it, the emotional consequences can be severe. Sometimes, depression can cause extreme feelings of guilt and worthlessness associated with not meeting a New Year’s resolution, which can then cause recurring thoughts of death or suicide.

How to Cope with Depression While You Establish and Follow Through on a New Year’s Resolution

A New Year’s resolution should be a positive thing — a resolution that a person can look forward to completing in the new year. With the right approach to creating a New Year’s resolution, a person coping with depression can develop a realistic resolution and stay with it in the foreseeable future.

It is important to remember that a New Year’s resolution doesn’t require a person to go to extremes. Instead, a simple lifestyle change like performing exercise for a few minutes a day can help a person develop a successful exercise regimen in the new year. Or, gradually replacing unhealthy foods with healthy alternatives can help a person build and maintain a healthy diet in the new year.

Trial and error is usually a good way to go with a New Year’s resolution, too. For instance, a person dealing with depression who wants to relax more in the new year could try a few minutes of meditation each day. If, after a few days or weeks, meditation helps a person improve relaxation, this individual can continue with the routine. On the other hand, if meditation is ineffective, it’s ok to try deep breathing exercises, mindfulness activities, or other relaxation techniques in lieu of meditation.

Using a buddy system can also be an effective way to stick with a New Year’s resolution. With support from a family member or friend, there is no telling how successful an individual may be in accomplishing a new year’s goal.

There is no need to implement more than one New Year’s resolution, either. By choosing a single New Year’s resolution, a person can be fully committed to getting the best results.

How to Get Started on Creating a New Year’s Resolution

One of the best ways to get started on creating a New Year’s resolution is to establish priorities. This allows an individual dealing with depression to establish goals for the new year, then prepare accordingly.

After a New Year’s resolution is in place, it is helpful to set milestones and track progress toward achieving the resolution. This enables a person to celebrate accomplishments throughout the year while working toward achieving a bigger goal.

Finally, the medical clinicians at SokyaHealth are happy to help patients find ways to manage depression so they can accomplish their New Year’s resolutions. We provide a wide array of depression therapies, and each depression treatment is tailored to a patient’s requirements.

Depression challenges men, women, and children, but there is no need for it to dampen the new year. At SokyaHealth, we offer medication, psychotherapy, and other treatment options to help patients manage their depression symptoms. To learn more or to schedule a consultation, please contact us online, or call us today at 800-930-0803.