Ready for resolutions? A psychologist recommends you prioritise this

It’s that time of the year when everyone starts planning, setting and reviewing their goals for 2025. Up there on the list with aspiring to save money or take a holiday is often mental health and the aim to improve it the new year.

As a clinical psychologist, I hear a lot of myths about mental health, and see how these beliefs can affect people every day. Some common ones: that our mental health is wholly outside our control. That to improve our mental health we must be in therapy, and attending therapy is all we need to do to improve our mental health. That mental health and wellness are our natural state of being. That experiencing mental health difficulties is unnatural or a sign that we have failed.

Managing your mental health requires more than a monthly appointment. Credit: Getty Images

Many of my therapy clients attend treatment holding some of these beliefs. I even held these beliefs in my early 20s as I struggled with my mental health.

Regardless of the diagnoses and difficulties clients attend treatment for, correcting these myths and replacing them with more realistic beliefs is a key component of recovery from any mental illness. But the process of deconstructing mental health – understanding what might need to change and how we can do so – can feel insurmountable and confusing, which often relates to the misunderstandings we have about mental health.

Imagine believing that physical health was everyone’s natural state and that this health would remain without any efforts to engage in upkeep. Or consider what it would be like to believe that all we need to do to maintain our physical health is to visit a doctor once a month. We’d laugh. But it’s common for people to believe that they should be mentally well without effort, and that attending therapy is all they need to do to stay healthy.

Similarly, we accept that some people are born with health difficulties and many of us will develop health issues with time. Most of us also understand that physical health fluctuates, and that we need to work on it regularly – outside the doctor’s office or a hospital – and that some health issues are uncontrollable.

It’s important to use some of the principles we adopt when managing our physical health to better support our mental health.

One of the most potent things I have ever done for myself was realising that I need to review my mental health regularly – I can’t set and forget. As was coming to terms with the recognition that, though therapy has served as an essential anchor and corrected my course on many an occasion, the bulk of my work on mental health must happen outside the therapy room.

In terms of setting goals and helping create better mental wellbeing next year, there are several ways to go about this.

The first step is recognising that working on mental health is a daily task and committing to some key, simple actions. These steps need be no more complex than eating a healthy diet, moving our bodies and getting enough sleep.

You don’t need to aim for perfection, either. In fact, in the early stages, just aiming to prioritise these things and be consciously trying is enough.

Breaking habits down into simple and small steps (walking an additional 10 minutes a day, adding fruit to our breakfast) is all we need. You’ll also need commitment and self-discipline, and to keep reminding yourself that these small steps come with incremental value, and are not a quick fix. Doing them for one day, or even one month, won’t help.

Other regular mental health maintenance habits might include not over-scheduling yourself, reducing social media use, learning to say no, planning time off ahead of time, finding at least one way to feel more connected to people (a book club or community garden, for example), no longer avoiding things which make us anxious, and committing to practising therapy tasks set for you between sessions.

But it’s important to commit to one new goal at a time. Don’t try to change everything at once.

It’s easy to ignore the value of simple activities and to focus our search on a pill, a new book or a magic answer from a therapist. But enduring mental health lies in modest habits exercised regularly, and in regularly and honestly reviewing how we are progressing without placing too much pressure on ourselves.

Dr Ahona Guha is a clinical and forensic psychologist, trauma expert and author based in Melbourne.

Make the most of your health, relationships, fitness and nutrition with our Live Well newsletter. Get it in your inbox every Monday.