Why Spring is the New January

The Season for Making Resolutions a Reality

Tradition directs many of our steps and makes us comfortable creatures of habit. New Year’s resolutions on January 1 are a good example of a tradition people habitually engage in, even though the results often leave much to be desired.

What might happen if we stepped away from a tradition that’s not serving us and made springtime our new January?

Is there a reason January’s goals become February’s failures? What might happen if we stepped away from a tradition that’s not serving us and made springtime our new January? Let’s look at the possibilities. 

Achieving a goal requires four steps:

1. Identify what needs to change and why.
2. Specify what you want (i.e., your goal).
3. Determine the actions necessary to achieve the goal.
4. Get yourself motivated to take action and see the process through to completion.

Most people making New Year’s resolutions can accomplish the first three steps fairly easily. It’s the fourth step that often stumps them and causes their resolutions to fail.

Why January 1 Is Not the Best Time to Set Off Toward a Goal

Think about it. New Year’s Day marks the end of the busiest time of the year. We reconnect with friends and family, travel, and cook and bake and decorate so that everything will be perfect.

Is this the ideal season to prepare to tackle important life issues that need clear-cut solutions?

No, it’s not. But spring may be. 

Can Spring Be the New January?

If you were asked to complete the sentence “Spring is a season of ____ ,” what word would you use? Dr. Anthony Scioli, a clinical professor of psychology at Keene State College, would use the word hope. Writing for Psychology Today, Scioli remarks that while the experience of hope lives within us through summer, fall and winter, “none of these other seasons can match the bounty of hope that greets us in the spring.”

Nothing drives us quite like hope.

The fourth step in achieving goals, as noted above, is getting motivated to take action and follow through to the end. We all know from personal experience that when faced with a task either daunting or routine, nothing drives us quite like hope. When you’re full of hope, you’re unstoppable. When all hope is lost, why keep trying?

Spring Is a Season of Hope and Optimism

The lengthening days of spring bring more hours of sunlight, which Dr. Scioli says produces direct benefits within the human body. Among them is an increase in the neurotransmitter serotonin, widely believed to contribute to feelings of well-being, happiness and hope.

It makes sense, then, that when it comes to creating and accomplishing resolutions, springtime naturally sets you up for success. This spring, maybe it’s time to take a fresh look at January’s resolutions and give them a go in the season when hope directs your steps.