How to Set New Year’s Resolutions to Support Mental Health

With the new year coming, many of us start thinking about New Year’s resolutions, which are often centered around our health. In 2025, 42% of Americans planned to focus their New Year’s resolutions on physical health. In contrast, only 25% aimed to improve their mental health. But our mental health and physical health go hand in hand. Good mental health can help to strengthen our immune systems, develop stronger relationships, cope better with life’s challenges, and improve our overall life satisfaction.

In this article, we’ll discuss why you might consider setting New Year’s resolutions for mental health. We’ll also guide you through the goal-setting process for mental health goals and give you ideas for creating your own mental health New Year’s resolution. 

Why Mental Health Should Be Part of Your New Year’s Resolutions

Prioritizing self-improvement for mental health can impact all areas of your life. People with good mental health experience:

• A better ability to cope with difficult or stressful situations
• Greater self-worth
• Improved feelings of gratitude
• Better ability to focus and concentrate
• Stronger relationships
• Better decision-making and problem-solving skills
• Increased productivity
• Better quality sleep
• Improved physical health and reduced risk of disease

Mental Health and Goal Setting

Research shows that setting clear, achievable goals can boost our mental and physical health. But New Year’s resolutions don’t always follow this framework. Because our society values external productivity, goals often don’t consider our emotional well-being. We might also incorrectly believe that happiness comes from being productive and set goals based on this. Instead, goals that put our mental health first work towards helping us feel more creative, energized, and grateful.

Setting Realistic and Sustainable Goals

Over 90% of people who set New Year’s resolutions don’t achieve them. Unrealistic expectations and all-or-nothing thinking can push us to set huge, nearly impossible goals. 

We might also start comparing ourselves to others, setting comparable goals without thinking about our own limitations. 

Focusing on small, achievable goals can help us create realistic resolutions. One way to do this is by using the SMART goal framework, which is designed to help people achieve long-term goals following an acronym:

S-Specific: Ensuring that your goal is specific means that you are stating what you want to achieve. For example, saying that you want to improve your sleep is vague. But setting a goal to start incorporating a bedtime routine, where you take a warm shower and then read before heading to bed, is more specific.

M-Measurable: Measurable refers to how you will track your progress toward your goal. For example, if you just say that you want to meditate more, you’re not really able to tell if you’re progressing toward your goal. But setting a goal of meditating for at least 5 minutes, 2 days per week, is more measurable.

A-Achievable: Achievable checks that the goal is realistic. For example, a goal of walking for an hour each day isn’t realistic for someone who isn’t currently going for walks. A goal of going for a 10-minute walk 5 days a week would be more realistic.

R-Relevant: Relevant checks if your goal is relevant to your overall well-being. For example, saying, “I’ll never argue with my partner again,” isn’t relevant. Conflict is normal, and not sharing feelings can lead to resentment. Instead, a goal of attending couples therapy twice a month to learn communication skills would be more relevant to reducing stress in a relationship.

T-Time-Bound: Time-bound gives a timeline for when you will start and finish a goal. For example, “I won’t use my phone before bed anymore” doesn’t say when you will start or finish a goal. Instead, “Starting Friday, I won’t use my phone after 9 PM for the next week” would be a more time-bound goal.

Top New Year’s Resolutions for Mental Health

In this section, we’ll go over popular mental health goals for the new year to help inspire you in creating your own.

Prioritize Consistent Self-Care

Self-care ensures that we’re making sure that we’re taking care of ourselves, helping to reduce stress and anxiety, and improving our mood. A goal of prioritizing consistent self-care might mean incorporating small, daily habits that reduce stress. You might also schedule larger blocks of time to ensure that you’re getting the downtime you need.

When thinking of new year self-care ideas, it can be helpful to brainstorm self-care activities that feel restorative for you. Remember that self-care also includes basic ways to care for yourself, such as drinking enough water or going to bed early when you’re feeling tired. Next, you can work on scheduling your self-care ideas into your schedule. Some people like to organize their lists by how much time activities take. This way, they can choose self-care activities based on their available time or energy. 

Example Resolutions:

• I will meal prep one thing every weekend for the week ahead.
• I will drink one glass of water each morning before my coffee.
• I will do a 2-3 minute deep breathing exercise at least 5 days per week.
• I will try a new creative hobby this year.

Strengthening Your Emotional Awareness

Emotional awareness helps you recognize your feelings and process them. You can also learn to identify patterns in your mood, which can help you make changes to feel better. Journaling, therapy, and mindfulness check-ins are all ways to work on your emotional awareness. When working on your emotional awareness, try to focus on naming emotions. This can help you feel what you feel rather than avoiding the emotion, which helps you move through the emotion more quickly.

Example Resolutions:

• I will spend a few minutes journaling every weekend.
• I will schedule two therapy sessions per month.
• I will practice a body scan every night at bedtime to learn to notice what’s going on in my.body without judgment.

Build Healthier Boundaries

People pleasing can mean that we overcommit ourselves or do things that make us feel uncomfortable or overwhelmed. Considering what we need and practicing saying “no” to things that don’t serve us can help build healthier boundaries. These healthier boundaries can also help us find a balance between work and rest.

‍Example Resolutions:

‍

• I will schedule at least one day free of evening activities each week.
• I will not read or respond to work emails after 5 p.m.
• I won't talk about politics. If someone brings it up and won't change the topic, I'll leave the conversation.

Nurture Connection and Community

Isolation can lead to loneliness and mental health issues. Connecting with others is especially important during the winter months, when the cold, dark days can make us feel more isolated, which raises the risk of seasonal depression. A resolution to build connection and community could mean reaching out to our loved ones. It could also mean growing our social circle by joining supportive groups or volunteering.

Example Resolutions:

• I will schedule one volunteering activity per month.
• I will find and join a club related to one of my interests.
• I will reach out to a friend or family member once a week to check in.

Reduce Digital Overload

Many of us are on our devices more than we’d like, which can impact our sleep and relationships and contribute to depression and anxiety. Many of us relax before bed by scrolling through social media. Then, we grab our phones as soon as we wake up. But this habit isn’t great for our bodies. To reduce our digital overload, we might set limits on social media or try digital detox methods.

Example Resolutions:

• I will do a social media audit and unfollow the accounts that don’t make me feel good about myself.
• I will not check my email or social media within the first 30 minutes after waking up.
• I won’t keep my phone in my bedroom.

How to Keep Mental Health Resolutions All Year

A year-long goal can seem daunting, but focusing on developing better habits can help make things more manageable. 

Tracking Progress Without Perfectionism

Focusing on consistency rather than intensity can help you make long-lasting changes. One way to do this is to track your progress using a calendar or app. Some people also find it helpful to incorporate the habits they want to start into their daily routines.

For example, if you want to start practicing breathwork, you might start to make a habit of doing it each morning while your coffee brews. A journal or mood-tracking app can also help you see how the changes that you’re making are impacting your mood, which can help with motivation. 

It’s also important to be flexible with your emotional wellness goals. Know that things come up that we can’t always control, and there’s no need to be perfect. Taking a look at the progress you’ve made and celebrating small wins can help with this.

Finding Accountability and Support

A support system can make it easier to implement new habits and work towards your goals.

Sometimes, it can be as simple as voicing what you’re working on to another person, or you might find an accountability partner so that you can support each other with regular check-ins. A coach or therapist can also help you set clear goals and create a plan to reach these goals.

They can also help you learn helpful strategies to overcome any obstacles you might run into when working towards your goals.

Adapting Resolutions as You Grow

As you progress towards your goals, things often change. What once was hard may now be easy, and you may need to adjust your goals throughout the year to continue progressing.

Sometimes, the opposite can happen when circumstances change, and we’re not able to reach our goals. If this happens, try to reframe it from being a failure to gaining knowledge that we can use to set goals that are more aligned with where we currently are.

Takeaway

Typical New Year’s resolutions are often results-focused and don’t consider how we feel when working towards them. Thinking about mental health when making New Year’s resolutions and using goal-setting frameworks can help us set goals that add to our lives rather than causing us extra stress.

Rather than setting a rigid, unrealistic New Year’s resolution this year, consider setting one that can help you develop positive mental wellness habits and add to your overall well-being.

Sources 

Anxiety and Depression Association of America. (2021, December 21). Setting New Year’s resolutions: 3 ways to prioritize your mental health. ADAA. https://adaa.org/learn-from-us/from-the-experts/blog-posts/consumer-professional/setting-new-years-resolutions-3

Crisis Text Line. (2019, January 2). 9 achievable New Year’s resolutions to improve mental health. Crisis Text Line. https://www.crisistextline.org/blog/2019/01/02/9-achievable-new-years-resolutions-to-improve-mental-health/

Drive Research Team. (2024, November 18). New Year’s resolutions statistics and trends. Drive Research. https://www.driveresearch.com/market-research-company-blog/new-years-resolutions-statistics/

Mental Health First Aid USA. (2020, January 13). Realistic New Year’s resolutions for your mental health. Mental Health First Aid. https://mentalhealthfirstaid.org/news/realistic-new-years-resolutions-for-your-mental-health/

Sutton, A. (2019). Exploring the association between mental health and goal attainment for individuals enrolled in a healthy lifestyles program (Master’s thesis, McMaster University). McMaster University. https://prod-ms-be.lib.mcmaster.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/467c69da-96bd-4248-b0e4-d2249e990fce/content

YouGov. (2025, January 9). 2025 New Year Resolutions: Health, wealth, and family time top global priorities. YouGov. https://yougov.com/articles/51276-2025-new-year-resolutions-health-wealth-and-family-time-top-global-priorities