All over social media, New Year’s resolutions are being criticized with titles like Everyone is Over New Year’s Resolutions, The Reasons Your New Year’s Resolutions Will FAIL, and New Year’s Resolutions You Should Never Make; but, why?
History teacher Laura Stiles, who has struggled to follow through with her resolutions in the past, confirms that it might be due to the way most New Year’s resolutions are set up. Oftentimes, they are super specific, super ambitious, and super stressful.
“[New Year’s resolutions] kind of set you up for failure,” Stiles said. “You never know what life is going to throw at you, so I think it is better to have a big, general focus as opposed to saying, ‘I am going to do these five things.’”
This year, Stiles shifted her previous resolution of losing 20 pounds into a more generalized goal: staying healthier. She believes that by aiming for something less specific, there is a better chance of maintaining that resolution.
Junior Niko Gray believes that New Year’s resolutions also set people up to unhealthy standards. There is a lot of societal pressure to create the best resolution or to make the biggest change, and that creates a seemingly impossible goal.
“I have this one friend who kind of feels like he is not a good person because he doesn’t make good New Year’s resolutions,” Niko said. “He talks to me about that, and he just doesn’t feel good about it, and it makes both of us feel bad because if he doesn’t feel good, I don’t feel good either.”
This situation of self-doubt is a great example of how the pressures surrounding New Year’s resolutions are harmful. Still, they can be fun if the right mindset is maintained. When he makes a resolution, Niko always ensures that he has a positive, encouraging attitude, detaching from the idea that not completing a resolution dubs oneself a failure.
“I don’t really hold myself to be like, ‘I have to do this,’” Niko said. “I am more like, ‘If I get the opportunity to, I will do this at some point this year.’ I am not going to hold myself to the standard of, ‘If I don’t get this done, I am a bad person, or I don’t want to be a better person.’”
Part of Niko’s nonchalant attitude towards New Year’s resolutions results from the way he has grown up. Niko’s family doesn’t celebrate the holiday as enthusiastically as others. In this way, the pressure of following New Year’s traditions doesn’t exist for Niko.
For those who have grown up with the pressure, like senior Ayla Ahmetovic, trading New Year’s resolutions for goals set throughout the year has proven to be a step away from stress and, instead, towards success.
“The new year is a reminder to myself that I want to be the best person that I can be,” Ayla said. “But that is something that I am constantly reminding myself of; it is not just a New Year’s thing. The new year just serves as a reminder of it and helps me regroup and see what things in my life I would like to change.”
Instead of focusing all of her goal-setting on the first day of the year, Ayla prefers to create objectives for herself as they come up. For example, if she wants to minimize missing assignments, she finishes all of the existing ones and then sets a goal that she won’t get any more.
One positive about setting resolutions on New Year’s is that it is a designated time for resetting; however, Ayla has found that weekends are better. On weekends, she gets the right amount of sleep, priming herself for completing existing goals and setting new ones.
“Weekends put you in the right mindset to be able to follow through with resolutions,” Ayla said. “You have the opportunity to be fully rested, whereas with New Year’s, there’s a lot of family gatherings and parties, and it is really hard to start off your year as a new version of yourself.”
Whether students choose to set New Year’s resolutions or not, Ayla, Stiles, and Niko all share one piece of advice: change your mindset.
“Just try to have a good year,” Stiles said. “Try to go with the flow, adjust your goals and resolutions as needed, and just have a more healthy outlook on resolutions.”
