There comes a time every year when people aim to better themselves. That time is at the beginning of the new year, and the end of the old. We don’t talk about the middle. With the promise of a new year comes hope for new opportunities, new beginnings and new ways to benefit yourself. In reality, it’s no different than any other day of the year, but we humans tend to magnify the value of time. Considering we have a limited amount of time to live our lives, we naturally want to “live life to the fullest.” The desire to better oneself paired with the looming threat of death causes us to chase after an idealized version of ourselves. That’s where New Year’s Resolutions come in. When the new year rolls around, people start making lists of goals to complete within the next 365 days.

The one problem, however, is that New Year’s Resolutions are notorious for their incompletion.

“I ha(ve n)ever met a single person who had adhered to a new year’s resolution,” Luna Thomas (10) said.

“(New year’s resolutions) have (n)ever worked and…we should just stop doing them,” Renny Scouten (10) said.

Why don’t new year’s resolutions ever get completed, though? The main issue lies in the resolution itself.

Ellie Walters (8) explains that her resolutions “tend to overwhelm (her) more than motivate (her)” because she makes her goals “too difficult” to complete.

When we make our new year’s resolutions too demanding, it makes it harder for us to complete them. This leads to struggles with our self-worth as we feel like we’re not good enough to complete our goals.

Thomas emphasizes this point, “people give up on (new year’s resolutions) the moment that they put themselves at even a slight disadvantage.”

The stress of not being able to complete a resolution causes us to give up. If we don’t feel like we can live up to our expectations of ourselves, we lower our expectations.

The tradition of making new year’s resolutions is supposed to motivate us to grow and become better versions of ourselves. However, they seem to only aid in the downward spiral of self-worthlessness. If your resolutions are too difficult to complete, then you won’t put forth the effort that’s necessary to to abide by your resolutions. From there, you’ll start to feel guilty for not completing them. This will lead to a battle with your self-worth and will ultimately discourage you from making new year’s resolutions in the future.

So how can we make smart, achievable resolutions that we actually want to complete? Walters gives the advice that our resolutions should be, “realistic and easily achievable goals.” Your resolutions should be goals that you can physically accomplish. You know your limits, and you shouldn’t push past them if you don’t want to harm yourself.

Plus, making your goals realistic makes them easier to be completed, which will benefit your mental health, as you’ll be more efficient in what you do.
Scouten claims that new year’s resolutions should “100% (focus on) actions” rather than personality changes. She explains that, “self therapy is stuff you’ve (got to) work on for years,” whereas making short-term goals are easier to complete.

For example, saying you’re going to work out every week is different than saying you’re going to be more optimistic. If your goals focus on physical actions you can take, you’ll feel more accomplished, since you can actively see your progress.

She also claims that resolutions, “should be something you do on your own (and should be) done for yourself.” The more passionate you are about your resolutions, the more likely it is that you’ll complete them. If you want to do something, you’ll typically do it. Don’t torture yourself with emotionless goals that will make you suffer in the process of bettering yourself.
New Year’s Resolutions are supposed t0 improve our lives and make us feel accomplished. They should be personal goals that will make us happy to complete. Instead of focusing on the “concept of needing to better,” as Renny Scouten calls it, we should make goals that fulfil our own desires. Your resolutions should make your life better.
“Resolutions should be something you do on your own (and should be) done for yourself.”

The more passionate you are about your resolutions, the more likely you’ll complete them. If you want to do something, you’ll typically do it. Don’t torture yourself with emotionless goals that will make you suffer in the process of bettering yourself.
New Year’s Resolutions are supposed t0 improve our lives and make us feel accomplished. They should be personal goals that will make us happy to complete. Instead of focusing on the “concept of needing to better,” as Renny Scouten calls it, we should make goals that fulfil our own desires. Your resolutions should make your life better.