Resolutions and Regrets

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Why New Year's Resolutions Fail by February (and how hypnotherapy can change that)

By Chris Hoare

We've all been there. January 1st arrives with optimism and determination. This year will be different. This year, you'll finally lose that weight, quit smoking, exercise regularly, or break free from anxiety.

Then February arrives, and somehow, that resolution has quietly slipped away.

If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. Studies suggest that approximately 80% of New Year's resolutions fail by the second week of February. But why do so many well-intentioned goals crumble so quickly?

The Real Reason Resolutions Fail

The problem isn't your willpower or lack of discipline. The truth is simpler: your conscious mind makes the resolution, but your unconscious mind runs the show.

Think of your mind like an iceberg. Your conscious mind, the part that sets goals, is just the tip above water. Below lies your unconscious mind, which controls approximately 95% of your behaviour. This is where your habits, beliefs, emotional patterns, and automatic responses live.

When your conscious goal conflicts with unconscious programming, the unconscious always wins. You can tell yourself you'll go to the gym every morning, but if your unconscious believes you're "not an athletic person," you'll find yourself making excuses without even realising why.

Willpower is a limited resource that depletes throughout the day. Relying on it alone is like trying to bail water out of a boat with a hole in it. The real solution isn't to bail faster, but to fix the hole.

How Hypnotherapy Addresses the Root Cause

Hypnotherapy works differently because it targets change at the subconscious level. During hypnosis, you enter a deeply relaxed state where your conscious mind becomes quiet and your subconscious becomes more receptive. You remain aware and in control throughout—this creates a direct pathway to reprogram the beliefs and patterns sabotaging your goals.

What to Expect from Hypnotherapy

Informal Chat: We will discuss your goals, explore what hasn't worked, and identify unconscious blocks holding you back.

Hypnotic Sessions: You'll experience deep relaxation while remaining fully aware. We'll guide you through therapeutic suggestions and visualizations designed to reprogram unhelpful patterns.

Integration: As the work takes hold, you'll notice changes happening naturally. Behaviours that once required enormous willpower start to feel easier, more automatic. You might be surprised to find yourself making healthy choices without the internal battle.

What Hypnotherapy Can Do

Replace Limiting Beliefs: Transform beliefs like "I have no willpower" or "I've never been able to stick to anything" into empowering ones that align with your goals.
Break Automatic Patterns: Interrupt autopilot behaviours—reaching for cigarettes when stressed, grabbing junk food when bored—by creating new neural pathways and healthier automatic responses.
Address Emotional Triggers: Overeating might soothe anxiety. Smoking might manage stress. Unless we address these underlying emotional needs, surface-level change remains difficult. Hypnotherapy helps your subconscious find healthier ways to meet those legitimate needs.
Create New Reference Points: Through guided visualisation, you experience your goal as already achieved. Your subconscious responds powerfully to imagery and emotion, naturally moving you toward that reality.

Real Change Doesn't Require Struggle

One of the most common misconceptions is that change should be hard, when in reality the opposite can be true. When you align your unconscious programming with your conscious goals, change stops being a constant fight. All parts of you move in the same direction.

People who've experienced this describe it as effortless; they don't white-knuckle their way through cravings or force themselves to the gym. They simply find themselves making different choices.

It's Not Too Late

If your resolution has already fallen by the wayside, you haven't failed. The approach you tried simply wasn't addressing the real obstacle: the unconscious patterns running the show.

Whether your goal is to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce anxiety, improve sleep, overcome a phobia, or build healthier habits, hypnotherapy offers a proven pathway to lasting change, that works with how your mind actually functions rather than against it.

If you're tired of setting goals only to watch them slip away, it might be time to try a different approach. Your resolution doesn't have to become another statistic. The change you want is possible.

When you are ready to discover what's really been holding you back, let's talk about how hypnotherapy can help you achieve the goals that matter most to you.

Your mind is powerful. When you learn to work with it rather than against it, transformation becomes natural and inevitable.

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