Aaron Berkowitz – General Assignment Reporter
“New year, new me,” has to be one of the biggest clichés that I hear used by people when every year begins to wind down in December. What fascinates me is why people get so caught up in changing themselves as a New Year’s resolution instead of just making the changes to themselves when they need to make them?
I don’t want to sound like this negative person who doesn’t think that people can change themselves for the better, I just have always found it to be annoying that people all decide to do this all on the same day. Personally, I think its great when someone decides to change something about themselves for the better but I think it should be a result of them actually wanting to do it and not just conforming to the tradition of a holiday.
On Jan. 1 of every year the gym is more crowded than ever and marks the first day of a lot of people’s New Year’s resolution to be more fit. The amount of people in that same gym on Feb. 1 will decrease dramatically. The point I’m trying to get across is the motivation, or lack thereof, behind a person wanting to make the change for their resolution really determines whether or not they will be successful or not.
I’ve heard some people who wanted to quit smoking or do better in school. Those are both great New Year’s resolutions, but what if I had an alternative to that idea? Instead of waiting for the new year to begin for you to quit your bad habits or even implement some good habits, why not just do it at the beginning of a new day? What’s the difference if you begin Nov. 2, 2014 vs. Jan. 1, 2015?
New Year’s resolutions can be cool if the person actually follows through with their plans to change or achieve something. It can be difficult for some people to live up to their resolutions because lets face it when we are accustomed to living one way for a while we build habits that can be hard to break. Whether it’s a bad diet you’re trying to change or you’re trying to quit smoking, it takes a lot of discipline and power of will to fully commit to your resolution.
I’m no life coach but in my opinion a good New Year’s resolution really depends on the individual but should ultimately be something that will make him or her feel good about themselves after they stick to it. I think it’s important that as you.
When considering what goals you want to set out for yourself, make sure you’re not setting yourself up to fail by setting unrealistic goals. I think its important to take time to give yourself credit every time you achieve a portion of your goal, whether it be someone losing a portion of a target weight loss or improving your grades in school.
I’ve seen a few people lately who are constantly updating their instagrams with the progress they are making on their resolutions to be more physically fit. This can be a good and potentially a bad idea for the poster. The attention to you trying to execute your plan can possibly make you more focused and dedicated, but that same attention can be embarrassing if you happen to fail.
I feel as though people can always be improving in something or working on themselves in some way, so why not set goals for yourself? The trick is to not just set goals for you, but to achieve them as well. But like I said earlier, it doesn’t matter the date, if there’s something you want to change or accomplish you can do it anytime.
