What are Good Mental Health Goals

Learn to Set Realistic Mental Health Goals

The new year always brings up the topics of setting goals. Lose weight, eat better, Make SMART goals, use a planner, or manifestations for the year are all ones I’ve heard recently. There are a number of ways to approach setting goals. Mental Health Goals are similar to any other goal you look at making in your life. If you do too much all at once, you are going to burn out. You can easily feel overwhelmed. Your mental health will fluctuate throughout the year. In Utah during the colder winter months, depression and anxiety tend to go up. Change is hard. Most of us fall into the trap of letting go of healthy habits and routines when things get difficult. It’s important to set goals that align with your values, current life circumstances and your current capacity. It can be challenging and overwhelming trying to refocus on priorities after difficult events or transitions.

Often times the first problem with setting goals is the self-imposed time limits . We measure our “success” and our self-worth on if we hit those time limits and specific numbers. When you fail, you feel guilt, shame, loneliness, anger, and resentment. Then the cycle of defeat and self-loathing persists.

You will feel more relief, compassion, and success when you set more realistic mental health goals this year. Focus on thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that you want to understand during this next week, next month, next year. You will feel excited about goals this year when you on the journey, not the destination

These are process goals. They are focused on changing how you think, feel, and act, thus resulting in improved mental health. they are not focused on one specific black and white outcome.

Here are four questions to help you identify good mental health goals for this year

• 1. If you were only able to change or improve one priority this week, what change would have the biggest impact for you?

  2. Why would it have the biggest impact?

  3. If you woke up tomorrow morning and this change had miraculously occurred over night, what would be different?

  a. What feelings would you be experiencing?(excitement, fear, confidence, happiness?)

  b. What change would there be in your daily routine?

  c. What thoughts would be different?(I can do this, I feel scared, I feel relief, I have a plan for

  the day?)

  d. How would it change your interactions with people in your life?

  4. Please rate on a scale of 1-10 how much confidence you feel about being able to steps toward this change during this week (1 being the least confident and 10 being the most confident you have ever felt).