To set New Year’s resolutions or not to set New Year’s resolutions, that is the question. Setting goals or making promises has been a tradition to humankind since Babylonian and Roman times. Here at Cedar Park, students have been navigating the first month of the new year, some with and some without New Year’s resolutions in mind. Senior Claire Cantrell is one student who is a proponent of setting resolutions, having set them in the past as well as this year.
“I’ve always set new year’s resolutions, although I’m not the best at keeping them,” Cantrell said. “I questioned whether or not to this year, but I figured that it couldn’t hurt, even if I don’t achieve them.”
One of Cantrell’s resolutions has recurred on her list for the last five years; to stop biting her nails.
“I know– it’s gross. But it’s an anxious habit that I’ve had since I was a toddler,” Cantrell said. “Since I’m graduating this year and actually going into the professional world, I decided to try to make myself look more presentable. Also, my mom brings it up every day, and a part of me wants to prove that I can do what I’ve said I could for so long.”
Regarding past years’ resolutions, Cantrell remarks varying levels of successes.
“I’ve definitely broken them before, but there are some that I’ve succeeded in as well, such as getting more involved in school and my community,” Cantrell said.
In addition to commenting on previous years, Cantrell shared how her year and her resolutions thus far have gone.
“So far, so good! This is the most progress I’ve ever made so early in the year, so I’m excited to see where the remaining eleven months take me.”
Another senior who set resolutions this year is Tim Ou. However, unlike Cantrell, Ou hasn’t set resolutions before. Ou resolved to workout out five to six days a week for at least an hour, decrease refined sugar, fried food and bread intake, as well as getting seven to eight hours of sleep minimum per night. In addition to specific health goals, another resolution Ou made was to be positive.
“I set new year’s resolutions this year as an informal but resolved mindset to improve my lifestyle and to ‘fix’ things that I felt could be bettered,” Ou said. “I haven’t even attempted new year’s resolutions before, mostly because of lack of want and also because of the popular opinion that they aren’t beneficial or doable.”
So far, Ou has kept up with all his resolutions, including a positive start to 2016.
However, junior Deirdre Wolf did not set resolutions this year. Wolf, in previous years, has set resolutions.
“I feel like I never follow them, and the main problem is motivation,” Wolf said. “I know the whole ‘new year, new me’ is supposed to drive me to want to change, but if I can’t change what I want to change on December 31st, why and how will I suddenly feel the need to the next day?”
In regards to resolutions she has set in the past, Wolf now supports more of a step by step view.
“When I do set resolutions, I genuinely forget about them by February,” Wolf said. “I tend to worry about little goals and changes and how they translate into my bigger goals rather than ‘Hey, this year I’ll do this huge thing.’ It helps me to actually be motivated to do things. To elaborate, it’s like telling yourself to take bites of a pie till you finish rather than attempting to tackle the whole thing at once. Maybe we could start monthly resolutions and we’d actually get stuff done.”
The first month of 2016 so far for Wolf has been a bumpy road.
“I feel like I always have a rough start, and maybe that isn’t necessarily because of the things going on around me but rather my mentality,” Wolf said. “I head into the new year expecting it to be astronomically better than the last, and I think, even if it’s a little better I’ll still be disappointed.”
With the first month of the new year already drawing to a close, remember to not let the entire year slip through your fingers. New year, new you. Right? Whether a person sets resolutions for the new year or not, change is bound to happen.