New Year’s Resolutions: Are Students Still Following Theirs?

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- New Year’s is a holiday that motivates many to follow lifestyle changes they’ve been meaning to follow in the past. New Year’s could be the beginning of a beautiful lifelong habit… Some stick with their resolution and some don’t follow through at all.

As we approach the end of February, the real question is if people are still sticking with their resolutions… Some hold strong with their internal process, but for others, maybe not so much. And others might have even forgotten their resolution…

“I honestly forgot about my resolution pretty early on,” Holly Spinner (senior- psychology) said.

Spinner’s goal was to read 20 pages of a leisure book a day, but the spring semester and her workload have made this task “impossible” for her.

“I have to do a lot of textbook reading for my classes, so at the end of the day, I am tired of the thought of reading. I prefer to watch a show or do other mindless activities,” Spinner said.

Meanwhile, others like Tommy Bennet (junior-psychology) have been keeping up with their New Year’s resolution.

“I have been wanting to journal for a very long time, but never kept up with it. But, I told myself this New Year I would finally stick with it. And I did,” Bennett said.

Bennett also said that this is his first New Years' resolution that he has fully stuck with and has not missed a day.

Anton Aluquin (junior- immunology and infectious diseases) has also been keeping up with his resolution and has not looked back.

“I have been going to the gym at least three times a week every week since the start of the year. I have always enjoyed going but had a lull right before the New Year where I was slacking off. But I have been keeping up,” Aluquin said.

The gym is probably the most popular New Year’s resolution and gyms are flooded with new memberships each year. The holiday is an excuse to get in shape and start a whole new lifestyle.

“I worked the front desk at Push Fitness on Long Island back in high school for a couple of years and we would get the most sign-ups for the gym in January,” Dominica Marciano (junior-nursing) said. “The gym would be packed for the first couple of weeks of the New Year and then the rush would slowly stop and people would pull their memberships…”

Dominica does think the rise and decline of memberships is from the inspiration of a New Year and the decline of interest as the year goes on.

Even though it can be hard to keep up with a routine, people like Nicholas try to implement healthy habits as much as possible.

“I started a Planet Fitness membership last semester and never used it, but when New Year’s came around, I made a promise to myself that I would go more often,” Nicholas Vasbinder (sophomore- kinesiology) said.

Nicholas has been making an effort to go to the gym as much as possible and goes about two times a week. He said he wants to make a greater effort but has hard classes this semester.

Implementing lifestyle changes can be tough to follow, but you always have next year to try again…