Risa Williams

Every year, we tend to make extreme New Year’s resolutions on Jan. 1, only to abandon them by February or March. Even the word “resolution” can make you feel guilt or anxiety. So how do we lighten up a little, and get into an easier mindset that makes us feel motivated to start some new goals in the new year? In my experience as a therapist and time-management consultant, the main way that people tend to go wrong with goals they’re setting is that they want to go too big too fast.

Despite the fact that for many years I have been working on the practice of “going gentler” in my thoughts, there are some Monday mornings where I wake up only to discover that my first thoughts are really harsh and dread-inducing.

Are you having trouble sleeping lately? Are you frequently stressing yourself out with the late-night doom-scroll through news headlines? You’re not alone. During quarantine, most of us have spent large amounts of time scrolling through our phones, and it’s causing a lot of anxiety, stress and, sometimes, insomnia. How can we stop ourselves from doom-scrolling when our phones have become our number-one distraction?