New Year’s resolutions have remained a staple tradition in countless cultures across the world since 2000 B.C. What originated as an ancient Babylonian tradition to honor their culture’s gods has evolved into the self-improvement resolutions known today. Approximately 49% of adults make a New Year’s resolution every year, according to the Pew Research Center. While New Year’s resolutions remain popular each year, their outcomes are different for everyone.
Common resolutions include losing a significant amount of weight and saving up money, according to research by Dr. Asim Shah from Baylor College of Medicine. The research suggests that many who make resolutions tend to push themselves too much instead of taking small steps, striving to lose 15 pounds instead of 5.
Sophomore Kai Dodd (he/him) said he thinks many aren’t able to fulfill their resolutions because they don’t have enough time or aren’t fully committed to completing them. Dodd said that when making a New Year’s resolution, people might not consider how realistic the resolution they’ve set is.
“They’re either easy to follow because you’ve set easy expectations for yourself,” Dodd said. “Or they’re hard because you set really harsh expectations for yourself.”
Many may make their New Year’s resolution without realizing that it might not fit their schedule. Junior Alexa Mendizabal (she/her) said she struggles to maintain her resolution to read a book each month due to her busy schedule. While setting difficult goals is not directly harmful in the long run, Mendizabal said that setting expectations that are out of reach may lead to feeling burntout or unmotivated to continue working towards their resolution.
“There other things to stress about and better things that need to take up the space in our heads,” Mendizabal said.
Mendizabal focuses on school and extracurriculars before attempting to complete her resolution. However, research from Baylor College shows that resolutions don’t have to be difficult; making reasonable goals that can be tackled one at a time makes it so that motivation doesn’t drop as quickly.
Sophomore Zoe Salmon (she/her) said that school has been one of the biggest barriers to completing her New Year’s resolution, which is to travel more often and improve in crew as a coxswain. While Salmon enjoys challenging herself with new resolutions or goals, she often finds herself prioritizing school over her resolution, causing her to abandon it.
“School comes first and then to get good grades, you have to put in all that effort,” Salmon said. “The other things just become a second priority.”
Although resolutions push many to complete their goals, some tend to make goals that are way out of reach, like learning a new language, which is a huge commitment and may leave someone unmotivated and no longer willing to complete their resolution later on. Salmon said she struggles to complete her resolution to learn a new language and explore various new cultures. Salmon said she fell behind on her resolution because of her schedule, which is filled with homework and extracurriculars, which made her lose track of her resolution.
“I was trying to learn Italian, and I downloaded Duolingo,” Salmon said. “But as school started to pick up again, I was just like, ‘I can’t — I don’t have time for this.’”
As students prepare for semester deadlines in January, resolutions can easily fall behind as schoolwork piles up. Dodd said for students who find themselves with busy schedules filled with homework and other extracurriculars, the resolutions that were made a few months back might not be the first thing they prioritize. Although the combination of limited time, finals, and deadlines makes it significantly more difficult to carry out a resolution, Dodd said just starting a resolution is already an improvement.
“It’s difficult at the start,” Dodd said. “But then once you actually get going, it’s gonna benefit you in more ways than it would have if you just didn’t do it.”
Although many people who make resolutions find it difficult fulfill their resolutions by not following up on their resolutions past their ‘new year high.’ Similar to Dodd, Mendizabal said that students may have expectations set too high for their resolutions and might feel disappointed when they don´t see instant results or progress. In return, Mendizabal said students begin to let go and follow their resolutions less and less, resulting in them gradually quitting or forgetting their resolutions.
Even though some may feel the need to create a resolution each year, Salmon said that New Year’s resolutions can help keep some people accountable and on top of their goals that have been put off.
“They’re so worth it. Because if you fully commit, you just put in all the effort that you can, you’re gonna get so much gratification of checking it off your list at the end of the year,” Salmon said. “You’re gonna be able to say, oh, yeah, that was the year I did something.”
