7 tips for making New Year’s resolutions that are good for your mental health

As a new year looms, many people see it as an opportunity to better themselves and start working on new projects and goals by making New Year’s resolutions. Often, these revolve around things like getting fit, getting better grades or spending less money.

But resolving to take care of our mental health often takes a back seat, despite the fact that it affects our emotional, physical and social well-being. With the help of Hong Kong-based certified NLP Life Coach Steffi Lopez Gonzalez, we’ve assembled a list of New Year’s resolutions you can make for your mental health in the new year.

Take one day a week off social media

“Social media has addictive qualities,” says Lopez Gonzalez. “It’s easy to become obsessed with the rewards of ‘likes’ or ‘retweets’ and get caught up in chasing the approval of others instead of being involved and interested in your own life and the lives of those around you.”

Not only can mindless scrolling take up a lot of your free time, but looking through your social media feed can make you feel depressed and anxious, as you tend to compare your life to others. It can be hard to remember that people are only posting their highlights and the good things happening to them, and are likely to be dealing with similar stress and insecurities as yourself.

“Enjoy the moment!” says Lopez Gonzalez. By being in the moment, we experience less anxiety and stress.