New Year’s resolutions are a way to quantify what we wish for ourselves, cataloguing our personal dissatisfaction, and erasing errors of the past.
They are part aspiration and part tradition and are set because the New Year serves as a cyclical marker of time during which we reevaluate and take inventory of our lives. Resolutions are like a promise to us to improve our lives and to make the New Year a better one for ourselves and others. The most common reasons for New Year’s resolutions are losing weight, increasing exercise, quitting drinking and quitting smoking.
Every year, millions of people take the opportunity to use Jan. 1 as a fresh start. After another challenging year, many eagerly anticipate the next year with the hope of change and new possibilities.
About 95 per cent of people fail their New Year's resolutions. Research showed a high percentage of people give up on their resolutions by the second week in February. A third study identified that most of those who set New Year’s Resolutions fail, even though they were confident of success at the beginning. How strange how such a high percentage of people in the world want to change themselves so badly but are so likely to fail in that task.
Unfortunately, optimism alone won't result in the change we want. The reality is there are several things about the way we make New Year’s resolutions that set us up for failure before we’ve even started. Common reasons why people fail their New Year’s resolutions include thinking too big and setting unrealistic goals and expectations, inadequate planning and tracking, psychological barriers, goals that aren’t specific enough, insufficient support and resources, and most commonly, losing focus and motivation.
Despite how many people, along with myself, fail New Year’s goals, I still set out to strive for them every year. I think if you have the thought of wanting to be better for yourself you can truly become better even if you don’t achieve that very specific goal you are thinking of.
A student from PSO’s New Year’s goal is to better save his money for more meaningful future purchases. Another PSO student's resolution is to drink more water and go for walks after dinner.
My goal for this year is to stay the course to graduate with the best grades that I can get and to stay strong in my upcoming new post-secondary life that’s going to unlock so many new opportunities and possibilities. Staying positive and hopeful for the future and staying true to myself and not changing for anyone else except myself.
I hope that everyone can achieve their goals for this year and stick to who they truly are, not for other people but only for yourself.
