January is Mental Wellness Month!  January -- also world famous as being the "I've got to change something" month.  We all make resolutions or promises to ourselves.  Some are more realistic than others but we seem to disappoint ourselves year after year.  The truth is that goals we set for ourselves are attainable most of the time. 

So why don't we achieve more of them?  For me, I think it's because I either lose sight of the goal or I get bogged down in why it is so much hard work.  Success in most areas of life comes with some sort of cost.  Those who succeed are generally the people who see the cost, calculate what they need to do to pay the cost, and move forward with that decision.  And then there's me!  I want to get up and go for a walk but I am a classic "snooze" pusher.  Where's the follow through?!?

So this year, I'm trying something new.  In my leadership group, we were encouraged to view the goal in hindsight.  I was given the task of thinking, "What do I want to be true about me in January of 2027?"  Then I realized: if I get a picture of that, it becomes a vision of my goal.  How about you, can you picture it? Something like, "I want to have a job I love" or "I want to have peace in my home" becomes the vision for the future.

Once we have that vision, it's time to figure out what the smallest steps are for attaining it.  I encourage you to engage in this kind of thinking.  If you are dealing with depression or other mental health concerns, it can be really hard to do this but also is more important than ever.  Don't hit "snooze" on your future!!

If it feels like even the steps are overwhelming, we can break it down smaller and smaller until there is a clear task we can do today.  For instance, if the vision is, "I want to have a job I love by January 2027" the step for today might be to take a career assessment or to read about different work opportunities.  It might even be as small as telling a friend, "I think I need therapy."

It also helps me a lot to think about my own wellness in the early stages of planning and keep that in focus as the year progresses.  I am hopeful that thinking in this way will help me maintain my vision of who I am becoming and what I want in my life (or not in my life).  

I wish you well in your own journey into Mental Wellness in 2026.  Please let us know if we can help!