Amidst the lights, fireworks, bubbly champagne and glittery outfits welcoming a New Year, it’s also the time for a new set of resolutions! Not accounting for the fact that some resolutions will most likely die within the next week (or even the next day), the mere conjuring of a resolution is serious business. After all, a new year means a new you, right?
In my personal experience, I’ve heard the same few resolutions screamed out loud next to me among the New Year’s Eve celebration madness in Downtown Los Angeles, and I shamelessly agree that my list includes the most commonly broken resolutions: from losing weight to spending less money. (None of which have actually been followed through on my behalf in the past …) Nonetheless, promises of eating healthy, improving grades, increasing money flow and finding romance have been unsurprisingly the most popular goals for the year.
So how many of these resolutions are actually kept as the year passes? Honestly, I’ve never successfully kept a resolution, and as a result, I rarely make them. Of all the people I have asked, none of them have truly committed to one either and it’s sad to say that more often than not resolutions falter as the year drags on.
Instead of committing to something that is beyond your power, such as finding that significant other, aim to strengthen your ties with people in your life and attempt to get to know more people. Resolutions involving romance are iffy since these things can’t exactly be predicted to happen within a year, let alone this year in particular, and that doesn’t mean you should feel desperate to keep the resolution from failing.
A close friend of mine decided to take a more economical approach to 2015, resolving to save half of each paycheck to go toward a trip to South Korea in the near future and to expand her personal business. Traveling is also a common resolution, especially among college students like ourselves. Whether it’s for volunteer work, studying abroad or recreation, traveling can be a fulfilling resolution for many.
Despite the more common resolutions, some like to dig a little deeper and use the opportunity to better themselves. “I want to find a way to stay genuinely happy; a keystone if you will,” confessed my friend Joyce Lee. “Wow, that’s pretty deep … ” we exclaimed in awe. Even if your resolution isn’t quite as complex as Joyce’s, you can still strive to be more optimistic to start off the new year in a positive way.
By doing something as simple as saying hello to a stranger or complimenting one random person a day, you can easily master the New Year’s resolution while simultaneously making someone’s day! You never know, you could gain a new friend (or even meet that special someone) with such an easy and kind gesture that doubles as something meaningful.
Even the concept of creating a blog and updating it daily can be seen as a resolution; nearly anything can be one as long as you set your mind to it and truly commit. Take some time to think it through and with adequate planning, you will most likely be able to accomplish your goals.
Some more achievable resolutions include striving to improve your grades, going to every class, cut down on sweets when you can and even to cook more meals at home. It might not be easy at first, but with some time and dedication, it’ll get easier as the year progresses. Don’t let laziness get the best of you (that could be a resolution as well).
The key to keeping a resolution is to make one that is realistic enough to be achieved with some effort, but also challenging enough to motivate you to complete it. Being consistent with your goal helps in the long run, and just think of how good it will feel knowing that you are part of the rare minority who actually follows through with a resolution!
