At the start of the new year: a psychologist explains how the resolutions for 2023 work

Created: 2023-01-07 06:56

By: Laura May

New list, new year: Many people use New Year's Eve as the starting point for a new mental beginning.

© IMAGO/Christian Ohde

Every year the same game: a new year and lots of good resolutions.

In an interview, psychologist Yvonne Wintergerst explains how the resolutions for 2023 really work this time.

Aschheim – More sport, smoke less, eat healthier: the start of the new year always brings with it the same list of good intentions.

An eternal ritual that usually does not last.

Psychologist Yvonne Wintergerst explains how to achieve the set goals and what the turn of the year is all about.

A conversation about twelve new chapters, mildness towards oneself and the comical mixed creature bastard.

Ms. Wintergerst, as a psychologist, what do you think of New Year's resolutions?

I would say they make sense.

The New Year is like an empty book with twelve empty chapters.

We can give them titles and fill the pages with new thoughts and experiences - this can have a positive psychological effect.

A way to mentally allow all the bad things in the old year?

In our calendar, a new cycle begins with the new year.

December is the month of looking back, January the month of looking forward.

It can also be good for couples to use the rhythm of the year.

For example, if you notice that you are growing apart and only function in everyday life, you can find your way back to couple time and closeness through fixed rituals and times, which parents often miss out on.

Are there wrong assumptions?

Yvonne Wintergerst has a practice for psychotherapy and couple therapy in Aschheim.

© DOMINIK GIERKE

Resolutions always sound so negative.

Often thoughts like: I can't keep it up anyway or I could fail.

We can also have wishes and projects for the new year.

Finding new attitudes towards emotional issues, leaving the old behind.

We have the freedom to re-choose what we take with us.

Are people sticking to their resolutions?

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My space

In my experience, many things lose their appeal over the months.

You let the year eat you up and lose focus on your own desires.

What can I do to prevent this from happening?

Basically, smaller goals are better.

You're more likely to achieve that and that's a sense of achievement that motivates me further.

If I've never exercised, I shouldn't do a marathon.

Realistic goals make sense, not from zero to 100, otherwise goals quickly give way to frustration.

How do I deal with not keeping my resolutions?

For example, when I resolve to stop smoking and then light my first cigarette in January anyway.

I wouldn't see that as a failure - the experimentation isn't over, you can start again tomorrow.

That depends a lot on your inner attitude.

If you give up after the first weak moment, that's obviously difficult.

But you can also be proud of having been a non-smoker for two weeks - and the year has only just begun.

The choice between discouragement and confidence is ours.

The hit list of good intentions

The opinion research institute Forsa has collected for the DAK health insurance what people in Germany have planned for 2023.

According to the representative survey, 67 percent of those surveyed want to reduce or avoid stress, 64 percent want to have more time for friends and family, and 64 percent also want to behave in a more climate-friendly manner.

These top three resolutions are followed by more sport, more time for yourself, healthier nutrition, frugality, less meat consumption, losing weight, fewer mobile phones, computers and the Internet, less television, drinking less alcohol and in tenth place: quitting smoking.

According to Forsa, the following trend can be seen in recent years: the desire to use less mobile phones is increasing, and more and more young people are planning something for the new year.

More and more people are able to

to meet the goals.

In 2022, 56 percent of those surveyed made it.

What's up with the funny hybrid creature of the pig dog?

The bastard is just a long-established pattern called convenience.

This: I'm sitting on the couch, following my usual patterns and don't dare to leave them.

It is a physical but also a psychological pattern.

Humans are creatures of habit.

If you get over your weaker self and start jogging every day, for example – that can also become a pattern.

We can change habits in our mind.

It's all in our thoughts - we decide our reality and our patterns.

Are New Year's resolutions related to the compulsion to optimize in our society?

Desires have also changed during the pandemic.

Most people just wanted their normalcy back.

Wanted the kids to be able to go back to school, with fewer arguments at home.

In normal times, however, resolutions are mostly the same.

This is not only related to self-optimization, but also to health - and that's basically a good thing.

Yet many resolutions deal with personal lack.

I wish the resolutions were more emotional and less action-oriented.

What are your resolutions for 2023?

That I meet new people.

I'm interested in how other people my age live and think.

It's not because I don't have many friends, but my own circle of friends is always quite similar.

New thoughts and ideas inspire me.

More news from Aschheim and the district of Munich can be found here.