Living in the UK: New Year, New Resolutions!

At New Year, many people want a good year ahead, and we greet friends and family with “Happy New Year”. The Brits go one step further: apart from wishing others well in the new year, they also make New Year Resolutions, and resolve to make their lives anew with concrete actions.

So, what did the Brits decide on achieving in 2022? YouGov, a research data and analytics group, had interviewed over 2,000 Brits about this. The three top new year resolution goals are:

1. Exercise more and improve one’s health (49%)
2. Eat healthier (41%) and start dieting (40%)
3. Put more money into saving (39%)

Many also decided to spend less time on social media (16%) and find a new hobby (15%). So it seems that everyone wants to become a healthier version of themselves and enjoy a richer life this year! However, if you raise the topic of new year resolutions with the Brits, you would also hear about how “new year resolutions are meant to be broken” because of one’s lack of self-control. (Researches also showed that about 80% of new year resolutions would not survive past February.)

The issue is not with self-control, but on how we can turn our determination into feasible plans. For example, how to "eat healthier"? If we immediately change a houseful of snacks into vegetables and fruits, then probably only highly disciplined people would succeed to keep going for long. On the other hand, if our goal is to buy one fewer bag of crisps per week, then this is way more workable!

With “eat healthier” as a sample goal, what does a feasible plan look like?

Specific: buy one fewer bag of crisps per week
Measurable: eat 4 bags fewer of crisps after a month
Achievable: it reduces the amount of crisps bought and eaten instead banning crisps altogether
Relevant: it reduces intake of unhealthy food
Time-bound: we do this once every week

Four bags of crisps might look like nothing, but if you persist for a year, you would have skipped 52 bags of crisps! In short, start from what is very small and practical, then you will see changes happening gradually to you. So, would you like to join in the fun and do as the locals do? It is not too late to start a new year's resolution today. Furthermore, as people of Asian heritage we have a traditional advantage: if we cannot make it by the time of the new year, we can always have a Lunar New Year Resolution instead!

May we all have a good, new beginning this year!