The New Year is a great time for anyone in recovery to recommit themselves to the things that keep them happy, healthy and living a life free from the chains of addiction.
That includes goals like going to meetings, eating well, getting exercise, spending time outdoors, getting enough sleep, nurturing relationships and finding a job you love.
While that all sounds wonderful, the reality is that research shows us that only 10 percent of us manage to keep our New Year’s resolutions for any significant period of time.
Knowing that, how can you help your loved one to stay on track?
3 Tips: How to Keep Your New Year’s Resolution
Life will always have setbacks, yet we still keep trying and pushing forward. Resolutions can help us do that. Here are three tips to help your loved one (and yourself) stick to your resolutions this year.
Make SMARTER Resolutions
SMARTER stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time sensitive.
It’s easy for someone to say that they want to develop stronger relationships, decrease stress and get healthy, but it’s also easy to let those goals slip away as life gets busy. Instead, encourage your loved one to set SMART goals, which could look something like this:
• I will make plans to spend time with someone who is important to me once a week.
• I will eat five fruits and vegetables and shoot for 8,000 steps every day.
• I will meditate or pray for 5 minutes every night before I go to bed.
Practice Monday Resolutions
Another option is to ditch New Year’s resolutions altogether and switch to making Monday resolutions, which offer 52 chances a year to reevaluate and reset.
These resolutions should still be specific, measurable, achievable and realistic, but they can change every week. For many of us, Monday resolutions work better because there is the satisfaction of meeting a new mini goal each week. Plus, it just keeps things interesting.
If your loved one’s goal is to get healthy, for example, a month’s worth of Monday resolutions could look like this:
• Week One: Walk two miles three times this week.
• Week Two: Cook dinner at home five days this week.
• Week Three: Start each day with a large glass of lemon water.
• Week Four: Do 15 minutes of yoga every day at home.
Join In
If your loved one tells you that her goal is to support her recovery by eating more nutritious foods, you could embrace that goal yourself.
By doing so, you’ll be helping your loved one stay accountable and on track—and reaping benefits yourself. Just remember to keep your goals specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-sensitive.
The goal of eating better could be broken down into four mini-goals.
• Once a month, we will make a large batch of soup together and make enough to freeze some for use all month long.
• We’ll limit sugary treats to one day a week.
• We’ll plant an herb garden together—and find recipes that use basil, rosemary, thyme or sage.
• We’ll get more Omega-3s by eating salmon, mackerel or sardines twice a week.
Fighting Addiction at The Raleigh House
New Year’s resolutions can be a helpful tool to help keep your loved one on track if they’re in recovery, but what if your loved one is still in the midst of addiction?
It’s easy to make a resolution to give up drugs or alcohol, but the truth is that the vast majority of us need help in achieving that goal. That’s because beating addiction isn’t a question of will power. It’s a disease that requires medical attention.
The Raleigh House is a treatment center located in Denver that believes everyone deserves the chance to live a free, happy and peaceful life. We have all the tools needed to help your loved one get sober—and build a new and better life. Fill out our form or contact us today to learn more about our drug and alcohol addiction treatment programs.
