Special Edition: Find the Fun in 2026
The NewsWorthy
Erica Mandy
4.7 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 3 January 2026
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As 2026 gets underway, many people feel pressure to set big goals and hit the ground running — but that mindset can quickly lead to stress or burnout.
In this Special Edition, clinical psychologist and Generation Anxiety author Dr. Lauren Cook joins us to talk about why New Year's resolutions so often fall apart, how anxiety plays a role, and what it can look like to approach change in a way that actually feels doable and even fun!
It's a conversation about starting the year with a little less pressure, and a lot more intention and joy.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today is Saturday, January 3rd. Happy New Year. As 2026 begins, as with any new year, a lot of people |
| 0:06.7 | might feel pressure to set big goals and hit the ground running. But for many, that mindset can |
| 0:11.4 | quickly lead to stress or burnout. So today, we're taking a different approach. My guest is Dr. Lauren |
| 0:16.9 | Cook, a clinical psychologist, consultant, speaker, and author of the book Generation Anxiety. Today, we talk about why New Year's resolution so often fall apart, what anxiety has to do with |
| 0:26.8 | it, and how to think about change in a way that actually feels doable, even fun. Together, let's start |
| 0:32.9 | the new year with a little less pressure and a lot more intention and joy. |
| 0:41.3 | Welcome to the Newsworthy Special Edition Saturday, |
| 0:45.8 | when we sit down with a different expert or celebrity every Saturday to talk about something in the news. |
| 0:49.4 | Don't forget to tune in every Monday through Friday for our regular episodes, |
| 0:52.5 | where we provide all the day's news in less than 15 minutes. |
| 0:55.0 | I'm Erica Mandy. It's now time for today's special edition Saturday. Dr. Lauren Cook, thank you so much for joining us here on the newsworthy. |
| 1:02.5 | Always a pleasure to be here, Erica. Happy New Year. And that's exactly right. It's the start of the |
| 1:07.9 | new year. People are often thinking about New Year's resolutions, |
| 1:11.6 | and that's true even though, you know, year after year we hear that resolutions often don't work, |
| 1:17.1 | or perhaps even make people feel worse because then they feel like they failed. So why do you think |
| 1:23.4 | self-improvement in general New Year's resolutions are so hard to follow through when it's our |
| 1:29.1 | desires for ourselves. Right. Well, you know, I think a lot of us we kind of stockpiled honestly |
| 1:34.8 | through the whole fall and winter season of like, I'm going to do all of these things starting Jan 1. |
| 1:40.4 | And it's a lot of pressure and it's not necessarily realistic. |
| 1:48.4 | And dare I say, I think a lot of these resolutions are missing the fun factor. |
| 1:51.6 | You know, we are wired to seek out dopamine. |
| 1:57.5 | And if our goals are just nothing but like strict self-improvement where there's no fun involved, we're not going to be very motivated to continue with those things. So I'm very |
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