New year, new you, or so the common wisdom goes.
New Year’s Eve has many traditions that are globally celebrated including loud, bright fireworks, the Times Square Ball drop in New York City, and having drinks and dinner with friends and family. But another well-known New Year’s holiday tradition is to make resolutions for the upcoming year.
Every person is thinking of what they can change and make better about themselves and they try to keep these positive influences for the rest of the year. A question consistently pondered by studies and research is, do people actually keep their New Year’s Resolutions?
According to U.S News and World Report, the failure rate for New Year’s resolutions is estimated at 80%, with most people losing their motivation for keeping the resolutions in mid-February. A common reason people give up on their self-improvement goals is because they set expectations too high. When someone sets a goal higher than they can achieve, it makes it easier to give up and not believe in themselves.
“My goal for this year is to drink a lot more water and stay hydrated throughout the day,” said 8th grader Savannah A. “In the past, my goals have only lasted a few months, but because my goal is something I can achieve daily, I think this goal might last longer than usual.”
Charlotte H, an eighth grader at Longfellow said that she thinks New Year’s resolutions fail because people think they can’t be consistent with their goal the whole year and end up giving up in February. She thinks people should make their resolutions one month at a time, and build up their goals.
Another eighth grader, Gianna T. said that New Year’s resolutions are important because they give everyone a fresh start and a chance to make a positive change to your life.
Although New Year’s Resolutions can be difficult to keep up with throughout the year, we have found that when a goal is achievable and the person setting the goal is really passionate about following through with the New Year resolution, it’s easier than you would think.
