Making (and Keeping) New Year’s Resolutions When Living with Aphasia

If you are reading this blog, you or someone close to you most likely has aphasia. It’s a condition that can have a significant influence over your life — from how you communicate to how you engage the world around you. Having New Year’s resolutions can be a great way to change your life in a meaningful and lasting way. Even small and subtle changes have the potential to be life-altering down the road. Here are three questions to ask yourself when making your New Year’s resolutions and achieving them in the New Year.

1. What is the outcome that I envision?

Would you like to have closer ties with a spouse, child, or grandchild? Would you like to communicate more effectively in day-to-day interactions? Often, it’s much more helpful to identify what you would like the outcome to be than to have a broad goal like “improving my communication”.

2. What is the smallest step I can take?

Goals are easier to stick with and accomplish when we can break them down into smaller steps instead of trying to fix everything at once. Moreover, consistency is key. Don’t get dejected by the natural ebbs and flows that come with working toward your goal. It’s much more important that you simply maintain the effort.

3. Who will I need to accomplish this goal?
There is an adage, “Many hands make light work.” This is true for nearly anything, but certainly for setting goals. Communicating is difficult for anyone, regardless of any impairments one may have. Enlist the help of your spouse, child, or speech therapist to help you think through the goal, set up milestones, and hold you accountable along the way.

Finally, once you have your New Year’s resolutions in mind, consider whether they meet these two basic criteria:

• Your resolution should be achievable. Why go through the effort of creating one if there is no expectation of accomplishing it? There are better ways to spend your time.
• You should be motivated to accomplish it. Without the proper motivation, your resolutions will fall by the wayside as life happens.