Can You Keep a New Years Resolution?
BY SAVANNAH HERSHEY — Staff Writer
A New Year’s resolution is a tradition in which people try to improve their lives in the coming year. New Year's resolutions have been around for almost 4,000 years but the resolutions weren’t always about losing weight or eating better. Ancient New Year’s resolutions involved making promises to gods and swearing to repay debts, hoping that they would be blessed with good fortune. Today, people make resolutions to quit smoking, get organized, learn a new skill, or save money.
Making a New Years Resolution signifies a person's desire to make a positive change. Resolution-setting is a way to consider values and morals. It is a great accomplishment when a New Year’s resolution is completed.
One of the most successful public New Year’s resolutions came from media icon Oprah Winfrey in 2016. Winfrey released a Weight Watchers commercial in December 2015, just in time for the 2016 New Year. She didn’t specify how much weight she planned to lose but as 2017 rolled around, she had lost 42 pounds. She talked about how following through with her New Years Resolution helped her find a good balance and overall well-being.
A few examples of common New Years Resolutions include improving fitness, losing weight, saving money, improving diet, pursuing a career, spending more time with family, taking up a new hobby, renovating a part of the home, volunteering, and cutting down or quitting drinking entirely.
Improving fitness, losing weight, and saving money are the most common resolutions.
Even though some people follow through with their resolutions, about 92% of resolutions fail. One of the main reasons people don’t complete their resolutions is because they know their “what” but not their “why”. Some people want to lose weight or eat better but they aren’t sure why their goal is important to them. New Year's resolutions need to be planned and thought about before they are put into effect or they will fail. Even though lots of resolutions fail, it is worth creating one and sticking with it.
As a Cedar Times writer, I encourage you to create a resolution and challenge yourself to complete it. LHS students can be in the 8% of people that are able to follow through with their New Years Resolutions!
