Around the world, many cultures ring in the New Year, with various traditions and celebrations that honour the old year and welcome in the new one. At the Calgary Therapy Institute, we want to welcome those who we have already worked with and invite in those who are interested in working with us! As we talked about in our last blog post, the co-relational model is core to our work and the many ways that we develop our practice in the larger community of Calgary and surrounding areas. We believe in the art of co-development with our clients - our supporters - while giving back to our community and society.
We have a lot of exciting things happening in this next year, with on-line education for all people, including those curious, interested, and education for practicing professional individuals. We will continue with our podcasts; focusing on our “traumatology series” which looks at the impact of traumatic experiences, and the experience of living with trauma. We will provide psychological strategies and ideas that can help people self-determine their healing as they embrace finding practices that help them through their process of reclaiming their wellness.
We have many groups coming up that will include adult CBT, and DBT, a trauma-recovery/growth group, a youth mindfulness group, a neuro-divergent group, addiction’s support, grief support and a men’s mental health strategy group. We continue with a peer-support program that aligns those that live with a mental health experience to support another that does as well. Peer-support is one of the key ingredients in mental health recovery, growth, and resiliency. We are pondering a few summer camps, intensive summer trainings and ongoing research opportunities.
We will see some of our staff leave in January and some new staff and students coming into our clinic. Many of our staff have themselves deeply emersed in post-secondary education and trainings that will further develop their clinical capacity and supervision of students. We are bringing in some pet support, mainly our lovely little Callie, who is a mini labradoodle. We see 2023 as a time for growth, reflection, and future shaping for our work to go beyond our day-to-day experiences and into creating a better future for those that depend on us to lead the way.
“Nothing is real unless people agree that it is.”
-Mary Gergen
How to Stick to New Years Resolutions and Avoid Burn Out
Did you know that January 17th is National “Ditch your New Years Resolutions Day?”
That’s right; there is an actual day, only 17 days into the New Year, acknowledging that our New Years Resolutions are often too hard to maintain.
So, let’s start at the basics: Why do we make New Years Resolutions? Brower (2021) maintains that most people make New Year’s resolutions for self-improvement. The New Year offers the perception of a clean slate, an opportunity to get things right, or to try for the first time. According to Brower, the four reasons for making a New Year’s resolution include:
Setting Intention – Being honest with where you are at, and what you need going forward is the first step to improvement.
Hope and Engagement – Setting resolutions gives individuals an optimistic approach to the changes they have established as a necessity for themselves.
Responsibility – Resolutions are a way of making a commitment to yourself, and to those your resolutions impact. Having personal responsibility is a key factor in self-determination, and self-efficacy.
Inspiration – Not only are resolutions good for yourself, but they often will fuel fire under those around you to do the same or similar for themselves.
Some statistics from Mick (2022) indicate that there is an estimated 9% of people who successfully keep their New Years resolutions. And while the question, “WHY this is”, can be fascinating, what I really want to focus on here is HOW we can stick to our goals this year.
Understanding the WHY about what it is you want to change.
Is this change for yourself? Or for someone else? Why is this change necessary today, and not yesterday, or tomorrow? Understanding what your motivation behind this change may help you understand the importance of the resolution, or lack there of, and help navigate and re-evaluate your resolutions. There’s no reason to sign up for karate classes if you don’t really love karate.
Focus on long-term goals with short-term milestones.
Small and realistic milestones will make long-term goals less scary. Undoubtedly, the best way to ensure your resolution’s failure is to pick a resolution that feels too far away. Small goals to the overall resolution, and rewards for the small steps in the right direction, help to encourage ongoing motivation for the goal.
Be specific but avoid using numbers.
The tendency to quantify a resolution is very high. Try to avoid saying, “my resolution was to lose ten pounds,” and focus on the qualitative aspects of your resolution; for example, “I want to train to be able to run to the grocery store and back.” Numbers can be highly motivating, but they can also serve as a reminder of how far from that goal you are. Focus on how you feel about your goal, and what you can do to maintain that optimistic feeling.
Let go of perfection.
No matter how clear you are with yourself about why you want to change, whether you started with realistic expectations, you have been rewarding yourself along the way, and checking in with yourself, life happens. Dropping a resolution altogether because you had one bad day of eating is like quitting your favorite sports team because you couldn’t make one practice. Life happens. Read it again. And have some self-compassion.
Wishing you all your best shot at your resolutions, and we hope you’re enjoying your January!
CTI Team.
Resources:
Brower, T. (2021, December 31). 4 Reasons to Make New Year’s Resolutions (Even If You Don’t Keep Them). Forbes.
Mick. (2022, November 15). 19 Mind-Blowing New Year’s Resolution Statistics (2023). INSIDEOUT MASTERY UNLEASH YOUR FULL POTENTIAL.https://insideoutmastery.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/#:~:text=43%25%20of%20all%20people%20expect,keep%20their%20New%20Year's%20resolutions.
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