Stop making New Year’s resolutions. Science and social media say you’re right.

Then some A few weeks into January, reality sets in. When I woke up at 5 a.m. to go for a jog, it was pitch dark outside and the sidewalks were slick with ice. Droopy, sad-looking supermarket produce ruins your plans to eat more salad. You’ve invited your friends over for drinks, only to find that no one, including you, is interested in leaving the house.

Welcome to the challenge of reinventing your life in the middle of winter. It can be difficult enough to set off toward new goals in your work, personal life, or finances at any time of the year. But few describe the additional challenges of doing so, as temperatures plummet and sunlight remains scarce.

This can damage your self-esteem and your wallet. Many of us shell out extra cash in pursuit of new and improved versions. A 2018 survey by software maker Quicken found that more than half of resolution manufacturers were spending money to stay on track. Sometimes it can be hundreds of dollars.

But if you’ve already given up on your New Year’s resolutions, you might be onto something. A growing number of influencers, authors and experts are calling for a reimagining of the way we think about the cold season. They say winter is never a time to work on becoming a new you. Instead, it is the best time to relax and take it easy, especially with yourself.

They suggest a different way to think about winter, one that better reflects the natural world. Instead of goal setting and self-discipline, embrace rest and reflection. Skip the 5 a.m. workout for more sleep and slower mornings. Accept that you won’t be leaving the house much, and stock up on books, candles, and other cozy amenities accordingly.

“Plants and animals do not survive winter. They don’t pretend it didn’t happen and they try to continue living the same life they lived in the summer.” Author Katherine May writes in her 2020 best-selling book “Winter: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times.” ” “They prepare. They adapt. They perform special perversions to overcome it.”

“Winter is a time to withdraw from the world, maximize scarce resources, pursue brutal efficiency, and disappear from sight. But that’s where the change happens,” she continues. “Winter is not the death of the life cycle, but the crucible.”

‘Pretend it’s summer’

Avoiding the urge to reinvent yourself can help make the winter months a lot less miserable, says Ally Mazerolle, a yoga and breathing exercises instructor.

Her video suggesting people take it easy this season went viral on TikTok, racking up more than 1.2 million views.

In the video, she explains that one of her friends had just contacted her to express that she couldn’t escape the winter blues despite her tight schedule.

“I asked… When it’s winter, do you act like it’s summer?” She says in her video posted in early January: “I want to remind you that winter has just begun. Now is the time to dream, to go inward, to relax and take time to slow down.”

Mazerolle told MarketWatch that he didn’t expect the video to make such a big impact, but it makes sense given the pressure many people feel to start the new year off with a bang.

“People are tired.” She said. “Going into January, expectations for a reset are so high.”

This wasn’t the only popular post asking us to rethink the winter season. Author Heidi Priebe expressed a similar idea on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, where it garnered around 73,000 likes.

What does it mean to act like it’s winter? For Mazerolle, that means earlier bedtimes and calmer mornings. That means spending more nights reading books or creating vision boards, she said, and skipping some high-intensity workouts for gentle movements like yoga. “Move your body in a way that nourishes rather than punishes.”

“I’m not saying you should hibernate and not work,” she added. “I think we need some more rest.”

“We see winter as something to get through and we miss the essence of the season,” she said. “Taking a break in the winter will give you much more energy for the rest of the year.”

‘There is wisdom in slowing down’

Adjusting your winter habits isn’t a new concept.

For centuries, Native Americans have reflected on the cycle of the seasons, said Sarah Sunshine Manning, an Indigenous writer and communications director for the NDN Collective, a South Dakota-based indigenous advocacy group.

Before colonial times, many tribal nations held ceremonies to commemorate the winter solstice or practiced other ways to commemorate the cold season, Manning said.

“There was always an intention to adapt daily life and rituals to winter, the time when animals hibernate and plant roots rest underground,” Manning said. “Our lifestyle reflected that.”

She added that while colonization and assimilation efforts have separated some communities from these traditions, some continue to practice them today.

Manning, a citizen of the Shoshone-Paiute tribe of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, continues his own custom of recognizing the winter solstice each December. She celebrates the shortest day of the year to slow down, spend time with her loved ones, and take care of her home.

Although no two tribal nations are the same, many indigenous religions have long shared the belief that humans are part of nature, not an exception to its rhythms, Manning said. That may not be how many people are operating it today, but that doesn’t mean the idea is useless, she added.

“Following the seasons was not a primitive thing. It was practical and spiritually sophisticated,” she said.

“As humans, we need rest.” Manning continued. “It is wise to take your time.”

Psychological arguments for slowing down

This approach may actually have a biological basis, said Michael Varnum, an associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University who has studied how seasons affect human behavior.

Perhaps one of the most well-known side effects of winter is seasonal affective disorder, a type of depression linked to the change of seasons. But many people, not just those who meet the clinical criteria for SAD, notice their mood and energy levels drop as temperatures drop, Varnum said.

“A significant portion of the population will experience low mood – negative emotions, decreased energy, etc.,” Varnum said. This is likely related to reduced exposure to sunlight, he added.

The seasons shape our behavior in different ways, he noted. Studies have shown that many people tend to have higher sex drives and do more charity work during the winter months. One study shows that people tip more in cold weather.

The risk of infectious diseases also increases during this time of year, and some studies have shown that we are more avoidant of strangers and less willing to try new things.

Varnum said it’s difficult to say which of these phenomena is biological or cultural, but it makes it clear that seasonal changes may have a greater impact on our behavior than we think.

“Despite all the ways we can buffer and protect (from the weather), we still see ebbs and flows,” he said. “These fundamental aspects of our behavior and the way we think seem to follow these seasonal patterns. “Maybe we don’t take it as seriously as we should.”

A case of abandoning one’s resolve

If you’re still kicking yourself for putting off your 2024 goals, it might help to know that few New Year’s resolutions actually come to fruition.

That’s because setting these high-risk, long-term goals often leads us to make a number of common mistakes, says Ayelet Fishbach, a University of Chicago professor and author of Get it Done: Surising Lessons from. said. The Science of Motivation.”

For example, we are often too ambitious, she said. We don’t ask for help. We make one mistake by skipping a workout or blowing our budget, and we shame ourselves into giving up on our ambitions entirely and sinking into oblivion.

Fishbach said that most people don’t change their habits because they don’t take the time to seriously think about what it takes to do so (wake up earlier, adjust their schedule, recruit a loved one, etc.). You can succeed when the going gets tough.

“When you have to drive a long distance, you don’t just get in the car,” Fishbach said. “You will be very tired. It’s going to be hard. You need to plan your rest area. … You have to empathize with your future self.”

And if you’ve already given up on your New Year’s resolutions, rest assured. That’s “probably the wrong goal,” Fishbach said. She said it’s time to move on to a new way of thinking about that goal. It’s about acknowledging that there will be days when you don’t feel like giving your best effort.

“I believe that all (sustainable) change starts with loving yourself and wanting to be good to yourself,” she said.

From Mazerolle’s perspective, it might be better to bring the process back to the spring.

“Trees are efficient at conserving energy. So that the bear can hibernate. “It’s not wise to push yourself at the beginning of the year,” she said. “Actually, resting is more efficient.”