Feeling the ‘new year, new me’ pressure? A gentle guide to mental health in 2026

A gentle guide to mental health in 2026

If you’re already tired of the “new year, new me” narrative and it’s only January, you’re not alone.

Everywhere you look, there are before-and-after photos, big announcements, bold resolutions and promises to become a completely different person by the end of the year. For many people, this doesn’t feel inspiring. It feels overwhelming.

Let’s look at the stats before moving on:

In a YouGov survey[1], people were asked if they kept their New Year’s resolutions from the start of 2024.

One in six (17%) say that they did.
One in three claims to have kept all of the resolutions they made (33%)
45% said they kept to some, but not all, of their personal promises at the beginning of the year.
One in five (19%) admit to having failed to keep any of their New Year’s resolutions.

It’s not all doom and gloom but it shows that resolutions are not easy to stick to. Why not approach January a little differently?

Rather than overhauling your life, you can give yourself a gentler, more realistic start to 2026, one that prioritises your mental health over performative change.

Why is January not a great month to make big changes?

There are good reasons why this month can be emotionally tricky.

Charities and mental health organisations have started to name how the pressure of resolutions and the “best self” narrative can increase stress and self-criticism, especially when you focus on perfectionism and try to stick rigidly to goals.

Add in the gloomier days, and the Christmas money drain, and January becomes a month where many people feel lower in mood or more anxious than usual. The whole “new year, new me” messaging increases emotional strain, particularly when you think you don’t measure up to what you see online.

If you’ve noticed yourself feeling flat, there’s nothing wrong. It’s your brain and body reacting to genuine pressures. Don’t worry, you’re not inventing drama.

The Private Therapy Clinic’s guide to a gentler start to 2026

Getting a head start on the year doesn’t have to involve reinventing yourself. It can be the small habits you build to shape your routines that protect your wellbeing long after January has faded.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) highlights that you’re more likely to succeed at something by breaking down goals, planning small steps and removing barriers, rather than relying on motivation alone.[2]

Here are some easy-to-achieve habits you can start incorporating now.

1. Speaking to yourself with kindness

Is your inner critic louder in January?
- “Everyone else is doing better”
- “You’re lazy”
- “You’ve wasted another year”
That kind of self-talk is closely connected to low mood and reduced self-esteem. The good news is, you can turn the volume down.

“Cognitive-behavioural therapies work directly with our thoughts. They use techniques such as cognitive restructuring to gently challenge self-critical beliefs and replace them with more balanced alternatives based on facts” Dr Victoria Taylor, Consultant Clinical Psychologist

Neuroscience research also suggests that positive and negative self-talk make your brain respond differently, influencing how you react to information and perform under pressure.

A small habit that pays off:

Notice one particularly harsh phrase you say to yourself.
When it happens, pause, and answer it with a sentence you might offer a friend instead. You don’t have to be unrealistically upbeat, just aim for something that fits the facts and is more compassionate in tone.

Over time, practising this kind of compassionate self-talk reduces stress and builds more supportive thinking.

2. Micro-habits that fit inside your real life

Large goals (“I’m going to lose a stone” or “I’m going to meditate for an hour, every day”) often fall apart as soon as work gets busy or motivation dips.

A gentler approach is to shrink habits until they feel almost laughably doable, then attach them to something you already do

A slow exhale every time you close your front door.
Stretching your shoulders while the kettle boils.
Standing by a window for a moment of light each morning before you open your emails.

These aren’t big actions, yet repeated tiny behaviours, like these, can gradually nudge your nervous system towards a calmer baseline and give you confidence to know that change is possible.

3. A short daily check-in on paper

Journaling isn’t a trend. The truth is, its history is rooted in wellbeing. Decades of research into expressive writing show that giving yourself space to write honestly about emotions or difficult experiences can support both your mental and physical health.

Therapeutic journaling follows a similar idea. People are invited to write about emotionally significant moments for just a few days in a row, and the effects can be surprisingly powerful. Studies have linked this gentle reflection with reduced stress and improvements in immune functioning.

And the good thing is, what you write doesn’t have to be polished. You don’t need to worry about your full stops or sentence structure. This is just for you. A small ritual that helps you check in with yourself.

You might spend a few minutes each evening answering a question about your day or how you’re feeling. Or you could jot down a couple of lines each morning about what you’re carrying into the day ahead.

You don’t have to wear out your pen; create a regular pause where your mind has room to breathe, instead of pushing it aside while you try to power through the year.

Here are a few prompts designed for moments when your mental wellbeing feels fragile or foggy. You don’t have to answer them all. Choose one that resonates.

What feels loudest in my mind right now, and where do I feel it in my body?
If I didn’t have to impress anyone this year, what would I want more of in my days?
Where have I already shown strength or courage in the past year, even if nobody else noticed?
What pressures am I carrying in January that don’t actually belong to me?
Which small act of care could make tomorrow feel a little more bearable or supportive?
What would it look like to move through 2026 at my own pace rather than the pace of other people’s expectations?
Who or what helps me feel even slightly more grounded, and how might I make that support easier to reach?

You can return to the same question as often as you like. Over time, revisiting these prompts can give you a clearer sense of patterns and next steps.

4. Protect the basics at all costs

The lack of daylight in the winter months and the impact of this on your routine can affect your brain, making it harder to regulate your mood and produce sleep hormones. This can be particularly noticeable during January once the Christmas and New Year festivities have died down.

Here’s the science:

When the light changes in winter, your body feels it. As the evenings get darker earlier, your brain releases melatonin sooner, which can make you feel sleepy earlier than usual and sometimes more tired overall.

At the same time, serotonin, a mood-supporting chemical that depends on sunlight, naturally dips during darker months. Lower levels are one reason many people feel the familiar tug of the “winter blues”.

Your circadian rhythm (your internal clock that tells you when to wake and when to rest) also relies on daylight to stay in sync. With fewer bright hours to guide it, that rhythm can wobble a little, making January mornings slower and nights more unsettled.

And because winter often brings extra stress, cortisol, the hormone that helps you feel alert in the morning, can become harder for your body to regulate. All of these things are normal, but can be why this time of year can feel all-consuming.

You don’t need a perfect lifestyle to give your mental health a boost, though. You might experiment with:

Stepping outside for a short burst of daylight most days, even on cloudy mornings.
Starting a basic wind-down routine before bed a few nights a week. Think gentle stretching, reading, essential oils and even the journaling we talked about earlier.
Choosing movement that feels accessible to your body and energy levels, rather than punishing workouts.

These small changes are the foundations that can quietly support your mood and resilience throughout 2026.

How the Private Therapy Clinic can support you

Sometimes, gentle habits and self-help tools are enough to ease a rough patch. Sometimes they’re a starting point which help you realise you’d actually like someone to talk to who understands the complexity of what you’re carrying.

The Private Therapy Clinic team offer specialist assessment and treatment for mental health difficulties such as anxiety, depression, stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, and OCD, as well as specialist assessments for ADHD, autism and memory concerns. We offer in-person and online options.

We provide evidence-based therapies recommended by NICE including CBT, DBT, ACT, EMDR and mindfulness-based interventions. These approaches can help you:

Understand patterns of thinking and behaviour that keep you stuck.
Learn tools to manage anxiety, low mood, trauma or overwhelming stress.
Rebuild a more compassionate relationship with yourself, rather than feeling at war with your own mind.

Because we’re a private therapy clinic, waiting times are shorter, and you can usually access a consultant psychiatrist or psychologist appointment much quicker than standard routes.

If this January feels tough, reaching out doesn’t mean you’re not coping. It means you’re listening to yourself and taking your mental health seriously. Whether you’re curious about a one-off assessment, longer-term therapy, or want to understand what support might look like, the team at the Private Therapy Clinic is here to offer a welcoming, non-judgemental space.

Get in touch

Our clinic is open Monday to Friday, 8:30 am–5:30 pm, and you can contact us on 01604 273882 or at therapyclinics@stah.org to find out more or book an appointment.

[1] https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/51150-what-new-years-resolutions-are-britons-making-for-2025
[2] Behaviour change: individual approaches