New year, new resolve
January 19, 2026 9:17 PM
A new year’s resolution is defined by Wikipedia as “a commitment that an individual makes to a personal goal, project, or the reforming of a habit. This lifestyle change is generally interpreted as advantageous. A new year’s resolution is generally a goal someone sets out to accomplish in the coming year.”
At the beginning of every year, people decide to start over or change themselves in a new way for the upcoming year. These people set new year’s resolutions for themselves, as a guideline to follow to accomplish their desired goal.
Jessica Scott, a fourth year student says, “New years resolutions are just a way for society to control us, and make more money.” Society plays off people’s new year’s resolutions, and sets these standards of how we should look or act.
One of the most common new year’s resolutions is to lose weight. And for anyone in the gym during the next month, this will be quite evident. Although getting healthy is a good thing, it is annoying for those year round gym goers who now have to wait in line to get on the treadmill.
Scott says it’s funny to see the decrease in the amount of people at the gym after the month of January. Where did all the people go? That’s the problem with new year’s resolutions: they don’t usually last.
People take this “pledge” on Jan 1, claiming to change their lifestyles, whether to lose weight, quit smoking, or even spend more time with their families. Either way, the majority of people don’t last much longer than the month of January.
How to succeed with your resolution
Don’t make a resolution that your not 100 per cent committed to in the first place.
If you want to stay committed to your new year’s resolution, you must really want to do it. Every year millions of people make the pledge to quit smoking. But for those people who have tried, it’s obviously a lot more difficult than just saying your going to do it. It takes a lot of effort and strength to overcome your addiction.
The same goes for losing weight. If the person is committed and truly wants to shed those last few pounds, all they have to do is stick to their work out schedule and healthy eating, and the resolution they made at the beginning of the year falls into place. However, the majority of people get caught up in making resolutions, and pledging something that they are not totally committed to.
Getting past the first month mark is always a huge accomplishment when it comes to new year’s resolutions, because that is when the people who are not committed to their resolution usually back out (when the gym clears out).
Scott says she doesn’t make new year’s resolutions because she knows she won’t follow through with them. She doesn’t know why millions of people make a resolution at the beginning of the year when they realistically know they will not follow through.
In today’s society, people conform to the norms and trends, and therefore, make new year’s resolutions because everyone else is making them. Society plays on this conformity in people and advertises towards people conforming to the norms society has laid out for them.
Positives
Although a lot of people tend to bash new year’s resolutions, the idea of making a goal for yourself at the beginning of every year is actually a positive way to start the new year.
People often get distracted or busy in their day-to-day lives and forget about taking care of themselves, or spending time with others. New year’s resolutions give these people the opportunity to create an objective and stick to it.
Negatives
At the beginning of the year, people get consumed with this idea that they have to accomplish their new year’s resolution right away. This often leads to stress because people are trying to do so much at once; lose weight while quitting smoking, and helping others.
Although all these things are good for you, it is difficult for someone to manage all these resolutions with their lives they lived before the new year.
One of the most common new year’s resolutions, to lose weight, takes a toll on people’s bank accounts. Gyms and weight loss programs often increase their prices in the new year, knowing that more people will be joining and wanting to commit to their resolutions.
However, these programs and memberships are usually for a long period of time. And as already stated, people don’t usually make it past the first month of their resolution. Therefore, people are paying for a membership to a gym they don’t even go to anymore.
There are low amounts of people who actually stick to their new year’s resolution all year round. But for this small amount, new year’s resolutions are a positive experience in their new year, they allow them to set goals, achieve them, and feel good about themselves. However, there is a larger amount of people who don’t follow through on their resolutions. This lack of initiative illustrates that making a new year’s resolution is not a necessity. If someone is not completely committed to his or her resolution, they shouldn’t make it.
