37 Secret New Year's Resolutions From People With Anxiety

Let’s be real — the new year doesn’t really mean you’ll magically transform into a “new you.” We wouldn’t want that, anyway. The “old you” has some fantastic qualities. But like any time-marker, New Year’s can be a period to reflect on your personal goals and where you want to be in the future.

And if this New Year’s your resolution is about taking better care of yourself or better managing your anxiety, there’s nothing wrong with that.

We asked people in our Mighty community who live with anxiety to tell us a New Year’s resolution they wouldn’t say out loud.

Here’s what they’re hoping for next year:

1. “To get out of my damn head.”

2. “I want to work on phone anxiety so I can fix my insurance issue and seek professional help.”

3. “To be able to express myself when I’m angry or hurt or need help.”

4. “I want to stop being my own worst critic. I resolve to be confident and proud of who I am and love the woman I see in the mirror.”

5. “To no longer feel ashamed or let those around me shame me for my illness.”

6. “To know my own voice in a deeper and more compassionate way, uncovering all the layers that anxiety and depression throw over me to shield me from the world. 2016 is my year for reclaiming my life and learning to live again, putting past traumas behind me and stepping boldly into the new.”

7. “To quit thinking about how everything could go wrong and just enjoy life for a change.”

8. “To just be still… so I can find peace again”

9. “To be able to be alone with my own mind for just five minutes without flipping through all the bad things that could possibly happen or be happening.”

10. “To be myself again. To discover myself apart from my anxiety.”

11. “To not feel like a failure or a burden to people”

12. “To do at least one thing I’m afraid of each day. Your life begins when you reach beyond your comfort zone. Being paralyzed from fear will only enslave us within our own prison cells, our minds.”

13. “To not allow the behavior of others to determine my self-worth.”

14. “To not be in my head so much, to not overthink everything I say and do and to not hate myself.”

15. “I will not judge myself for my anxiety disorder; it is not a sign of weakness.”

16. “To be able to control my anxiety better and to help my family understand what I’m going through so they don’t feel left in the dark.”

17. “To value myself.”

18. “I want to do things in 2016 because I want to, and not have to offer any other explanation.”

19. “To slowly overcome my fear of being in public places alone. I struggle with leaving the house, going in stores and most public places. I will overcome.”

20. “To challenge the negative voices in my head.”

21. “For inner peace.”

22. “One setback doesn’t make a relapse. It means I need to give myself a break. I need to work on believing that.”

23. “To learn to trust and let go. Stop overthinking things and embrace each moment, one at a time.”

24. “To leave the house more.”

25. “To not allow other people’s assumptions about my health and recovery dictate my victories or losses!”

26. “To be patient and kind with myself when my brain goes into a silly, anxious state.”

27. “To stop picking at my eyebrows when the breathing techniques aren’t working.”

28. “Care, of course. But stop caring so much.”

29. “I want to be able to better handle the unexpected in 2016 and believe that I’m worth it.”

30. “To give myself a voice, literally and metaphorically — to say what I mean and mean what I say when I express myself.”

31. “I will get brave enough to apply for jobs in the field of work I went to school for.”

32. “To do the one thing my panic attacks have not allowed me to do in years: go to the grocery store alone on a Saturday morning.

33. “I will make the choice to be my own cheerleader.”

34. “To be better, as well as more open with my loved ones, at vocalizing my real (and probably only perceived) anxiety. The cloud worsens and deepens and ultimately wins when kept quiet. Love and acceptance will set us free.”

35. “To try to accept myself and all my problems. To accept that I was born this way, it’s not a punishment for something I’ve done wrong and it doesn’t make me less of a person. I deserve love, and I need to love myself first.”

36. “To be vulnerable and open about the mental health aspects of my physical chronic illness, especially as I’m going through a very serious and scary flare-up, instead of joking off or minimizing how I’m feeling to others.”

37. “I need to start believing my existence was never meant to be an apology.”

*Some responses have been edited and shortened for brevity.