How to Make and Keep Your New Year's Resolutions

becozi merino wool needles chunky knits

Ah, the sweet feeling of looking at the calendar and seeing that today is January 1st. A new leaf has turned over, a new chapter is about to be written in the book of your life. 

You feel uplifted, optimistic, ready to tackle on any challenge life throws your way. You buy that new journal like you've done every year prior, you sign up for a gym membership and go to the local farmer's market to buy fresh organic produce. 

Then a week later you wake up and don't feel like going to the gym. Or eating spinach for breakfast seems equivalent to getting a root canal. 

We have all been there. We have all felt what you've felt. 

As you reach for that extra donut (wait, where did these come from?!), you are simultaneously hit with both guilt and a feeling of 'What the heck, let's have another one. This clean eating thing is not working anyway.'

This common way of thinking even has a psychological term to define it: abstinence violation effect. It occurs when "...an individual, having made a personal commitment to to cease engaging in some other unwanted behavior, has an initial lapse whereby the behavior is engaged in at least once." (source) What proceeds the relapse is the lack of control, as we described with the donut example above.  

As it happens with most of us, we simply give up after that initial minor setback. But what we want you to try this month and this year is to keep going and not make yourself feel terrible about drawbacks.

We all have days or weeks when life seems to be plotting against us. If you need that extra donut instead of a workout, eat it and get back in the game next week. Give yourself the time and the space to listen to what your mind and body needs at the moment. 

And then - get back in the game. Keep trying. Get motivated. Don't give up on your resolutions, on yourself. There was a reason you set these goals - you wanted change, you wanted accomplishment, you wanted something new. 

Make it happen. 

If learning to knit or knitting more is your 2017 resolution, let us help. Watch our videos on our YouTube channel to get started, get one of our DIY Kitting Kits and don't give up - your very own gorgeous Merino wool product will give you the most satisfying sense of accomplishment, we promise. 

Tell us what your best relapse story is and if/how you came back from it. We'd love to hear your comments and help support the notion that we are not alone in what we deal with on an everyday basis.Â