Prioritize Your Mental Health: Setting Realistic and Achievable Goals for the New Year

The new year brings a chance for setting new goals or renewing old ones. It’s important to prioritize mental health and well-being on this journey. Embarking on this journey, it is important to prioritize our mental health and overall well-being.  

Time to reflect:  Are you juggling work, family and personal commitments, feeling overwhelmed and mentally exhausted?

You are not alone. Many people can relate to this kind of scenario. It underscores the importance of caring not just for our physical health but our mental health as well. 

In a world where people often focus on their health by setting New Year resolutions, focusing on weight loss, eating better and getting physically healthier. Many overlook the significance of mental health and well-being.  It affects how we think and feel, how we handle stress, and how we make choices. This is why it is essential to set realistic and achievable goals.

Understanding The Importance of  Mental Health Goals

Setting mental health goals is fundamental in prioritizing our mental health and well-being. These goals provide direction and purpose, allowing us to focus our energy and efforts on meaningful objectives. By working towards these goals, people can experience a sense of accomplishment and empowerment. Which also helps boost self-confidence and motivation. 

Mental health goals can act as a guiding light in the mental health journey and provide tangible evidence of growth and improvement. Reinforcing a positive mindset and fostering optimism aids us during challenging times. The process of goal setting also encourages us to take time for self-reflection. This leads to a deeper understanding of self and one’s emotional needs. 

 The Power of Realistic Goal-Setting

Creating practical strategies that help us maintain well-being can make all the difference in taking a goal from something that isn’t achievable to something that is. Setting realistic mental health goals fosters a positive and sustainable mental health and well-being path.  Creating unrealistic and unachievable goals often leads to frustration with ourselves and self-doubt. Ultimately undermines any progress we might have made.  We must take a step back and ensure our goals align with our personal capabilities and limitations. 

It can be hard to know when our mental health goals don’t align with our personal limitations and capabilities. An example of this can be setting overly ambitious goals, such as eliminating all stress from our lives. This type of goal does not align with the reality of the human experience. Stress is a natural and inevitable part of life.  Similarly, setting vague goals such as “being happier” without specific actions or measures may not align with personal capabilities and limitations. Happiness is a complex, multifaceted emotional state that can not be easily quantified or controlled. 

By aligning our goals with our capabilities and limitations, we can embrace flexibility, enjoy frequent wins, and gain a sense of purpose. All of which can help boost our mental health and ultimately contribute to long-term growth.

Identify Personal Priorities and Ambitions

It can be difficult to determine what our mental health goals should be. But by taking some time to reflect on our priorities and ambitions we can see what is important to us. You can gain clarity of areas that need improvement, such as managing stress, enhancing social interactions, practicing self-love and identifying negative thought patterns. Exploring these areas and taking time to self-reflect it helps set the stage for meaningful and relevant mental health goals. You can gain insight into where to focus your efforts and gain a greater mental well-being. Now, it might be hard to explore these areas on our own. Reach out to a therapist to help you explore these areas. 

Research suggests that ambition can be a powerful motivator in achieving our goals when directed to serve one’s well-being.

Some Examples of Mental Health Goals. 

You might wonder, ‘What mental health goals can I work towards?’ Below is a list of some possible goals that can help boost your mental health. 

• Prioritizing self-care 
• Practicing daily affirmations
• Establishing healthy boundaries. 
• Improving Sleep hygiene 
• Practicing stress management 
• Boosting social interactions 
• Overcoming past traumas 
• And many, many more.

Remember, this is not an exhaustive list; mental health goals are unique to individual needs and current circumstances.

Factors to Consider When Setting Mental Health Goals

In addition to understanding our priorities and ambitions when setting mental health goals, we also need to consider our personal circumstances and limitations.

So, what is included in our personal circumstances and limitations? Well, things like work commitments, family responsibilities and health concerns can impact our ability to work towards and maintain our goals. By acknowledging our circumstances we can set realistic goals, and tailored to our unique situation and increase our chances of success. 

Additionally, it is important to consider any potential barriers. This could include things such as time constraints, financial limitations or even internal obstacles such as self-doubt or fear of change. By taking the time to identify these barriers in advance you can proactively develop strategies to overcome them and increase the chance of successfully reaching your goals. However, all of these can be difficult to do alone and if you find yourself struggling with knowing what your limitations are or personal barriers reach out to a mental health professional.

Time for an Action Plan.

We wouldn’t set our friends up for failure why should we set ourselves up to fail? 

What do you do when you have your priorities, ambitions, limitations and barriers all determined? Now it’s time to create an action plan. In developing an action plan you can create an easy-to-follow step-by-step guide to helping you achieve your goals. First, you should identify your specific mental health goal such as the one listed above. Once you have that completed it’s important to break that goal into smaller more manageable tasks. For instance, if your goal is to improve your social interactions a smaller task might be to initiate conversations with friends or join a social groups. This helps to make goals less daunting and more achievable.  

SMART GOALS 

SMART goals are a valuable framework that is effective for setting any type of goal.  By taking the time to ensure that goals are Specific, Measurable, and Achievable. Relevant and Time-Bound you can create a clear and actionable plan that has a higher chance of success. 

For example, a SMART Goal for mental health might be something like, “ I will practice mindfulness breathing for 10 minutes every day before bed for the next month to reduce stress and improve sleep quality.” The goal encompasses every part of the SMART framework, it is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant to the individual’s well-being and time-bound making it more effective than a goal that is vague or general. 

Use the template below to make your own SMART Goal 

Tracking your progress is another vital aspect when working towards your goals. This can be done by maintaining a journal, using a mental health app or just noting your progress on a calendar. Regular review and adjustment of your goal based on your progress is important. If some tasks are consistently challenging they may need to be modified to better suit your individual needs better.  Additionally, potential barriers to achieving these goals should be anticipated, and strategies to overcome them should be developed. This could involve seeking support from friends, family, or mental health professionals.

Don’t Forget Your Support System and Stay Accountable.

It is okay to seek support and accountability for you mental health goals!  By sharing our goals and progress with loved ones, friends and mental health professionals. Individuals can benefit from a strong support system and help to increase motivation. Loved ones and friends can provide encouragement, understanding and practical assistance. Mental health professionals on the other hand can offer guidance and tailored support. By sharing your goals you can also foster open communications and reduce feelings of isolation which also contributes to improved mental well-being. 

Accountability is also a strong factor in achieving mental health goals. When we are held accountable to our goals we are more likely to stay committed and track our progress. This can be achieved through regular check-ins with a trusted individual or professional and by using tools like journaling or mental health apps that monitor progress. Accountability helps individuals stay focused, overcome challenges and celebrate successes which in the end helps us to sustain our progress and improve mental health.  

Coping with Setbacks and Celebrating Successes

We are all human, setbacks are inevitable and a normal part of life and that is especially true when we are setting goals but this doesn’t mean they need to define the journey.  When possible it is best to anticipate any setbacks that may arrive.  When you do experience a setback having coping mechanisms and identifying healthy outlets that work for you can be beneficial. Engaging in activities that bring joy, relaxation and/or fulfillment such as exercises mindfulness practice, journaling and art evening connecting with nature can all be healthy coping mechanisms.  Your support system can also help navigate setbacks by offering perspective, guidance and reassurance which helps maintain motivation.  Embrace setbacks, they are an abnormal part of the journey!

“The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a destination.”

― Carl Rogers

Don’t forget to reflect on the progress you’ve made, celebrate any accomplishments and remind yourself of the strides you’ve made. Taking this time to reflect can help you maintain or reignite motivation and still have confidence in your ability to overcome setbacks.  

Make sure you take time to celebrate milestones no matter how small. Acknowledge your successes and the positive impact they have on your life. Celebrating progress helps with motivation and encourages continued commitment to your mental health goals. 

Happy New Year!

Amid the challenges and opportunities that 2024 brings setting mental health goals is a valuable tool for maintaining and improving mental health and well-being. It can provide you with a sense of direction and purpose, allowing you to focus your energy on things that are meaningful and tailored to your individual needs. By working towards these goals you can experience a sense of accomplishment, and empowerment and boost your self-confidence and ongoing motivation to to continue your efforts, 

A mental health setting also encourages self-reflection, leading to a deeper understanding of yourself and your emotional needs. When setting mental health goals it is important to keep them realistic and identify your personal ambitions and priorities. Don’t forget to consider your aspirations and dreams as well as any potential challenges that might impact your ability to maintain your goals.  

Creating an action plan that helps you break down goals into smaller more manageable tasks and using the SMART can help you create a framework for your goals. Seeking support from loved ones, friends and mental health professionals that provides guidance, accountability, encouragement and motivation. 

Finally, remember that setbacks are inevitable plan for them as best you can. Celebrate successes and no matter how small, this can help you maintain motivation to keep working towards your goals and foster a positive mindset.  Ultimately setting mental health goals is a proactive step towards prioritizing mental health and building a foundation for long-term growth and improved mental health.

As we enter the New Year let’s take a few moments to make a commitment that also focuses on mental health and cultivates a sense of thriving and overall well-being with the same dedication that we give to other aspects of our lives.