Old beliefs, new resolutions: How New Year’s resolutions affect mental health

Setting the tone for the new year looks different for everyone; however, a tradition that many practice is setting a New Year’s resolution. Dating back 4,000 years, ancient Babylonians have been said to be the first to practice the tradition, according to the History Channel. While the tradition was upheld for quite some time, many people are starting to stray away from the practice; others are becoming more mindful of how they set their new year goals. “Typically, we want to set New Year’s resolutions because it has been the norm as the new year is approaching. It’s part of our culture, now, is to talk about New Year’s resolutions. It’s also very common to do reflections on the year that has passed and think about things that could be different,” said Dr. Danielle Henderson, clinical psychologist at IU Health. Although setting goals is important, Henderson reminds people to not be so hard on themselves. “It’s hard to say if they [New Year’s resolutions] are good or bad. We just have to be careful about how we’re going about setting our New Year’s resolutions or our intentions,” said Henderson. A very important factor is the why behind setting these goals....