What I’ve learnt from all my failed new year’s resolutions

The goals I set myself – from daily yoga to learning rock-climbing – never go to plan. But they have taught me a wealth of new, sometimes pointless, skills

Last year I promised myself I’d go bouldering every single Thursday (Getty)

I like a challenge. So what better way to push myself than at the start of the new year with wholly ridiculous resolutions?

One year at university, I randomly decided I’d practice yoga every day for 12 months without ever having tried yoga before – very ambitious. Last year, I promised myself I’d go bouldering every single Thursday... indefinitely.

And of course, for the past two years, I’ve attempted to have a plant-based diet for the month of January, knowing I love cheese more than most things in this life. Needless to say, all my grandiose new year’s resolutions have been a tremendous flop.

Every year, I essentially set myself up for failure. Normally I feel exceptionally guilty about how much of a slob I’ve become during December and try to rectify it by attempting resolutions that are ambitious at best and delusional at worst.

Luckily, I’m not alone with my futile declarations, as 80 per cent of new year’s resolutions fail by February. I lasted 27 days the first time I attempted Veganuary – all it took was one inebriated encounter with a margherita pizza and all my hard work was undone four short days before the end of the challenge. And when it came to bouldering, I got a (not so cheap) 10-day pass to a climbing centre, and let’s just say a year later, there’s still about four visiting passes left to use.

Yes, my resolutions never go to plan, but they have taught me a wealth of new, sometimes pointless, skills. I’m often too hard on myself and forget all the days I did actually stick to my challenges and what I’d gained from them. For someone with a lactose addiction, I lasted 27 whole days as a vegan, yet I was more upset about the four days that I didn’t manage. Although I failed at Veganuary the first time around, I stuck at it and did it again, learning from my mistakes. I went from cluelessly sustaining myself on Linda McCartney sausages and nuts to becoming an accomplished vegan cook.

The fully vegan diet didn’t stick but I now know how to realistically work more plant-based meals into my diet rather than going cold turkey (excuse the pun) and spending a whole month in near starvation. And I didn’t do yoga every day, because that’s ridiculous, but I did practice it daily for the first few months and continued on and off long after that – it truly made me feel stronger and happier in myself. I definitely don’t go climbing as often as I’d like to but the point is I still go when I can.

Being realistic in my expectations is where I really fall through every year. Daily challenges, massive changes to my diet and physical activity can’t just happen overnight.

For me, coming into the new year is all about learning from the mistakes from the previous year and gaining new skills that better me for the year to come. So yes, I flop at every resolution I’ve ever made, but I can now cook tofu that actually tastes nice, I can do two types of headstands and I’m getting pretty nifty at the overhangs when I go climbing.

Change doesn’t come straight away and instead of trying to cram all my new year’s challenges into one month or every day of my life, I’ve worked them into my lifestyle. A new year symbolises change and growth and that will always come with some mistakes. Now I’ve learned to stop being so hard on myself for coming up short on new challenges, understand that we’re all human and instead focus on all the wonderful skills I’ve learned along the way.