The New Years resolutions I didn’t make for 2026

How are your New Year’s resolutions going? Genuine question. We’re over halfway through January now, so this feels like a safe point to check in.

The popular consensus seems to be that January lasts approximately six months; that it’s a bleak, endless stretch of darkness, budgeting and diet apps, and people pretending to enjoy early mornings. And yet, strangely, January has gone quite quickly for me this year. I’ve hacked the system and I think I know why; I didn’t set any New Year’s resolutions.

For once, I didn’t decide to reinvent myself in the coldest, darkest, wettest and most bloody miserable month of the year. I didn’t give anything up and I didn’t promise to become a better, fitter, calmer version of myself. I just carried on carrying on, and because of that, January hasn’t felt like something to endure.

Resolutions I didn’t make this year

1. I didn’t give up wine.

Probably the most popular New Year’s resolution is Dry January. I am a firm believer that January is not the month to remove one of the few remaining adult pleasures that reliably improves an evening. A glass of wine is not a moral failing, it is delicious and enjoyable and you can kiss my slightly-larger-than-it-might-otherwise-be-but-I’m-fine-with-that arse if you think otherwise.

NB My best tip is not to over indulge over Christmas (it is, apparently, possible) and then you don’t feel the need to give your liver a month-long apology. Also, support your local pubs and all that.

2. I didn’t ban foods I like

Look, I’m in perimenopause, of course I have a few pounds to lose, but removing cheese and carbs in January would have been both cruel and pointless and would not work. I would MUCH rather do that in May, when there is more than half an hour of daylight between getting up, being at work, and going to bed. Not going completely feral over Christmas meant that, for the first time in living memory possibly, I didn’t enter January thinking ‘I am 85% cheese and booze and something drastic must be done’, which helped.

3. I didn’t join the gym or start running again

I let my gym membership lapse when I moved too far away to make it practical, and took to running instead. Then it was winter and I was ill, and I am not mentally ready to go back yet. January did not feel like the appropriate moment to reintroduce punishment disguised as self-improvement. I’ll get there, probably when the weather is nicer and being outside past 5pm doesn’t feel dangerous. And if I don’t, does it really matter to anybody else? No.

4. I didn’t overhaul my routine

No early bedtimes, or early alarms. No meditation. No reading for an hour before bed. No promises to myself that I won’t keep because I love my bed more than anything once I’m in it.

5. I didn’t aim to save money

I did exactly the opposite; I went on a short holiday to Marrakech and spent far more money than I should have.

And as a result, January has been fine! Fun, even. Despite the freezing temperatures, the wet socks, and the darkness.

In the most obvious of realisations I’ve ever had, it appears that when you’re not constantly measuring yourself against a list of arbitrary goals, time moves differently. Days don’t drag and you’re not waiting for permission to enjoy things again, counting down to February like it’s some kind of reward.

I’m not saying I won’t change anything this year. I fully intend to work on some goals and by goals I just mean I want to fit back into my size 12 jeans without having to take a deep breath first. Crucially, I’ll do it when the desire arrives naturally, not because the calendar demands it. Personally, I think spring is a far better time to get your shit together.

So if January has felt endless for you, this is not a judgement. It’s an observation. Maybe the problem isn’t the month, maybe it’s the resolutions.

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