Liza Johnston, APC, NCC, MS • 404-757-3250
When most people think about making New Year’s resolutions, their minds go to creating or changing physical habits to improve their health. Some opt for dry January, while others join a gym or commit to walking three times a week. Still, others hope to eliminate their daily desserts. These are all worthwhile endeavors to improve our physical bodies, and the research shows that engaging our bodies in healthy exercise, better sleep, and improved nutrition can benefit our emotional and mental health, too.
I would like to propose something more nebulous but perhaps more beneficial to our overall health and contentment. What if we decide to work on our relationships, our connections to those we care about and those we’d like to get to know better? The research shows that improved relationships increase our overall well-being and add so much meaning to our lives. Couldn’t we all benefit from stronger relationships, and more of them?
Improving relationships encompasses creating new ones, enhancing old ones, and even ending those that are destructive to us. We can focus our motivation for the year on trying out and joining new groups or activities that foster conversation, shared learning, and challenging pursuits. We can commit to calling our loved ones instead of just texting them.
We can work on not trying to change our loved ones but instead accepting them, warts and all, and setting boundaries with how much time we spend with them if needed. We can choose to see some family members in small doses, providing us with enough space to care for ourselves too.
We can invite new people into our lives, even if it is scary. Keeping in mind the goal of fostering relationships that improve our lives and the other’s life will cause us to step out of our comfort zones and take risks. We can re-evaluate often whether we need to set a new boundary or just take a step back if we are giving more than getting in return.
Fostering relationships can be our New Year’s resolution in 2024. If so, it will give back often in powerfully positive and unexpected ways throughout the year and beyond.