Ah, January. A month heavy with expectation and light on execution. It’s supposedly the perfect time to get the body of your dreams and the promotion you deserve, start a side-hustle and book a once-in-a-lifetime trip, but experience tells us it rarely pans out.
Back in the 2000s, it was rather trendy to say you didn’t “do” New Year’s Resolutions (NYRs). It was a time when everyone was desperately trying to prove they were alternative and abstaining from NYRs was another small act of rebellion against a long-established tradition. However, this year, NYRs have made a comeback, at least with Gen-Zs and millennials.
Research from Forbes Advisor revealed that more than half of Brits aged 18-34 have set resolutions for 2024, compared to just 12 per cent of people aged 55 and above. We saw this reflected on digital platforms ruled by younger age groups in the days leading up to 31 December.
My social media feeds were full of 2023 photo dump highlights, vague quotes from health and wellness pages, and self-affirming tweets for 2024. (This is going to be the year everyone reads 100 books, apparently.)
The resurgence of NYRs has a lot to do with the explosion of interest in health and wellness since the pandemic. UK consumers now consider health and fitness to be an essential area of expenditure, and this will continue to increase, despite the cost of living crisis, according to the recent findings of a Mindbody + Classpass 2024 Predictions Report. Globally, the wellness industry was worth $5.6trn (£4.4trn) in 2022 and is expected to hit $7.4trn (£5.9trn) in 2025. When you combine our collective craving to feel more “well” with a capitalist economy that says you need to spend more to do so, you end up with an awfully long to-do list.
A few minutes after scrolling through Instagram and X during the last week of 2023, I found myself agonising over my own. Should I finish my novel this year? Since 2020 I have only written – *checks notes* – three pages. Should I try and get to the gym more? Should I practise yoga in the mountains, delete all my social media accounts and not speak to anyone for a year?
I hate to say it, because I think she’s great, but actress Issa Rae’s parting words to 2023 almost pushed me over the edge. In an Instagram video, while sipping a cocktail/mocktail, she said: “I’m going to be so much better in 2024. That text? Responded to. That email? Answered. That project? Finished. That other project? Started. That book? Read.” I’m sure it was intended to be inspirational, or at least funny, but it only made me feel anxious. “This is the energy we’re going into 2024 with!” her followers exclaimed, while I sipped tea in my pyjamas, watching the fireworks on TV.
I’m not bitter towards those who want to improve themselves – I’m a goal-orientated person too – however, I’ve spent the best part of three years poking and prodding at pretty much every aspect of my life, from personal relationships to what time is best to wake up in the morning.
Eventually, it becomes mentally and physically exhausting. Also, if you are always focusing on what needs to be improved, where is the time to take stock of how far you’ve come, or focus on everything you’re already grateful for?
After a great deal of ruminating, the only goal I set myself for the end of last year was to get my long-suffering but beloved Macbook fixed. It was a practical task I had put off for months in favour of bettering myself emotionally and physically. When the task was finally completed, and the laptop was fixed, I was over-the-moon ecstatic. Tapping away at the keyboard, I had a new lease of life. Despite all the goals I had set myself throughout the year, this one felt the most rewarding. I savoured the moment and was able to enjoy it even more knowing it was the only goal I had set myself. There was nothing left on my to-list for the month.
I have decided to approach January in the same way. This month, I will write for fun, outside work, once a week. I feel significantly less daunted and much more excited with one goal instead of a whole list.
There is an infamous, animated meme that pops up on Instagram every New Year’s Eve of a woman in high heels climbing a precarious staircase. Each stair below her represents what she’s leaving behind, such as “jealousy” and “gossip”, and on the stairs above words like “money” and “love” await her. As the meme is recycled every year, it has become somewhat of joke. “Here she is again,” social media users write, back at the bottom step, trying to overcome the same obstacles at the turn of every new year.
It is a fitting way to illustrate our collective fixation on self-improvement. We may never be the best versions of ourselves, it seems.