DR Vivienne Lewis says the most important part of wellbeing is setting achievable goals, and using them all the way through each year.

“Set yourself up for success,” she says.

“Be realistic with the time frame, you don’t have to wait until January 1 to start working towards a goal, nor does it have to be achieved straight away.”

Vivienne has been a clinical psychologist at the University of Canberra for 20 years.

“My role is to help people work towards realistic and achievable goals to improve their mental and physical wellbeing,” she says.

“Health is the absence of disease and illness, whereas wellbeing refers to our physical and mental health.

“Wellbeing is a positive mental state where you’re feeling good about yourself and where you are in life, you have goals and meaningful things you’re working towards.

Vivienne says this can be obtained through positive social connections, being physically well, doing things that are meaningful, having a sense of

achievement, looking after physical health, not abusing substances, and doing things that are relaxing and pleasurable.

“I personally try and make sure that I’m moving my body every day, that I’m eating well every day and having a social connection with family and/or friends every day,” she says.

“Then, even when you’re really busy and have a lot on, have an hour a day where you just have down time and can relax and do something you like doing, but that isn’t very taxing, and don’t feel guilty about it.

“It’s the whole plane analogy, in that you need to put your oxygen mask on first before you can help others, and that’s important for life, too.

“If you’re not looking after yourself and you’re not doing okay, then you can’t help others, whether it’s your children or family, or whether you can’t perform your best at work, whatever the case may be, so you need to look after yourself, all year round.”

Vivienne says people know their wellbeing suffers under stress at the end of the year.

“When we are stressed, we are less likely to take the necessary time to look after ourselves and our self-care goes out the window,” she says.

“That’s why you can’t just focus on your wellbeing occasionally, you need to apply it constantly, particularly focussing on wellbeing as a preventative method rather than only utilising it when you’re already stressed.

“I think it’s such a big issue, people waiting until their next holiday before taking some time for themselves, which leads to stress and burnout, and most holidays don’t give you enough time really to rejuvenate.

“Sure, you want to relax on holiday, and of course that’s a great idea, but you’ll probably also want to go and explore and see people, too, you can’t spend the whole time unwinding.

“Burnout is past the point of stress, when you are completely overwhelmed and can’t function any more, that’s what I’m hoping to help people avoid.

People need to reflect on their achievements, says Vivienne, to see how far they have come, and use their wellbeing time efficiently and often.

“Even if it’s just congratulating yourself for getting through a tough year,” she says.

“A high level of stress is quite common, unfortunately. At the very least, at any one time, there is one person in five who is feeling stressed.

“So, other important things you can do for your wellbeing include letting others help you, or asking for help.

“Often when people view wellbeing as something to do once they are stressed already, they set unrealistic goals and they lose their motivation and end up feeling deflated and giving up on their goals altogether.

“Try and set up a wellbeing routine, or action plan, for throughout the year, and be consistent with it.

“It’ll absolutely help, you need to be looking after your wellbeing constantly. It makes me happy to see people and help people live happy, meaningful and fulfilling lives, it’s rewarding for everyone in both day-to-day life and in the long term.”