Resolutions: Push for what you believe in. Make meaning. Dream big.

The most durable New Year’s resolutions aren’t about optimization: changing your body, saving money, exercising more. They’re about meaning, acting on what you actually care about, providing service and care to others, and showing courage in the presence of difficulty. Viktor Frankl identified these as the three root sources of a meaningful life, and decades of research after him have held up.

Happy new year. It’s a time that brings up reflection, renewal, and yes, celebration. And with the opportunity of a new year often comes everyone’s favorite goal-setting activity: resolutions. What newness are you hoping to bring about? Before your goals are set in stone, I want to challenge you to think about intentions a little differently this year.

Evidence shows that New Year’s resolutions tend to circle around a few general categories: personal health, self-improvement, and money. Other changes revolve around family, love, and career. What if, instead of vowing to change yourself, you were to launch into the year striving for more meaning in your life?

Why pursue meaning instead of improvement?

When we make resolutions, what are we actually pursuing? Usually it’s some form of change, often with a promise of greater happiness. But I don’t just want my clients to experience momentary joy. Real happiness is a meaningful life, not just a passing emotion.

When we act deliberately on things that truly matter to us and move toward what we believe is valuable and worthy, our lives become full. This kind of happiness isn’t fleeting. It’s a resonant sense of a well-lived life. That’s the meaningfulness I work toward with clients.

Viktor Frankl, the Holocaust survivor and renowned psychiatrist, identified three basic sources of meaning:

1. Contributing service in times of crisis.
2. Giving love and care to others.
3. Showing courage, or making meaning, in the presence of suffering.

What does meaning-making look like in practice?

Frankl and decades of researchers after him found that meaning is rooted in providing service and care to others. What does that mean to you?

To me, this means charging forward in acting for social justice. For those who share this commitment, providing service means continuing in pursuit of anti-oppressive practices: joining in direct action in support of the Movement for Black Lives, doing the ongoing work of reflecting on privilege (including the privilege embedded in setting resolutions), or decolonizing our bookshelves, media consumption, and spending.

Consider how you can strive for both self-growth and community growth. Maybe the resolutions you’ve already set can have an outward dimension as well. Many of us participate in “Dry January” or commit to cooking more rather than ordering out. You might donate the money you save to your local food bank. You don’t need to end food insecurity to make a meaningful contribution; small acts count. Reflect on your values, and find a way to build service into the goals you’re already setting.

For other readers, Frankl’s three sources might surface something different: starting to volunteer, reaching out to friends more regularly, or shifting careers. Whatever this brings up, sit with what it would be like to pursue meaning this year, not just a better version of your habits.

Contributing your strengths, providing care for people who are hurting, making something of difficulty: that’s the prescription I share with people I care about. It’s what I work on in therapy too.

Want help building a more meaningful year?

At Panorama Therapy, I work with adults across Alberta who are asking exactly these questions: what matters, what’s worth building, and what it would take to actually live by their values. Reach out if you’d like to do that work with support.