With January coming to a close, many may be thinking back to Jan. 1, and the New Year’s resolutions they chose to bring with them into 2022. Popular resolutions include fitness goals and spending more time with family, but do people really follow through with these resolutions, and is it healthy to go into the new year with the mindset “New Year, New Me?”
Thinking about resolutions and self-improvement was particularly daunting this past year with a steep spike in COVID-19 cases just in time for the holidays. Still, many continue to set these personal goals at the beginning of the year.
Sophomore Jillian Alexander shared her thoughts on resolutions and sticking with them despite going through hard times. “My New Year’s resolution is to work harder in general this year,” she explained. “I can’t slack off even though life may seem challenging right now.”
Even though working harder may seem like a very broad goal, Jillian feels that she could hone in on certain areas of working hard in order to make her resolution seem less overwhelming. She said that the first area she wants to focus on is working harder in school. “A step I am taking to work towards accomplishing my resolution is trying to procrastinate less,” she said. “I have a tendency to push aside my work and to also lose the motivation to get work done. I think if I procrastinate less I’ll be way more productive.” Jillian said that by breaking her resolution down into smaller steps, she would be more likely to stick with it throughout the year.
Junior Andrés Rollan echoed this sentiment. “I usually do my New Year’s resolution for periods of time,” he said, “so I’ll follow through for the first two months of the year and then stop. I feel like this happens because I make my resolutions too broad.” Andrés is trying to combat that this year by making the steps he will take to achieve his resolution – living a more active lifestyle – very specific. In January, he decided to do one physical activity each day.
Jillian went on to say that while finding motivation during a time like this, with cold winter days and a never-ending pandemic, is hard, breaking down her resolution and taking inspiration from someone significant in her life, her mom, has helped her greatly. “My mom is the reason I have so many amazing opportunities, like the ability to attend KO,” she said. “She’s what pushes me to work harder, because I want to make sure her hard work pays off.”
While some New Year’s resolutions may be influenced by the people most important to us, others are undoubtedly influenced by social media. With influencers on apps such as Instagram and TikTok posting only the most glamorous, exciting, and healthy aspects of their lives, there is great pressure to live this picture-perfect version too. The pick-and-choose aspect of social media where influences typically only post the good also makes it seem as though this self growth process must occur instantaneously on the first of the New Year.
Math teacher Kristen Valenti provided insight on how she chose to change her thinking about resolutions this New Year. “I don’t think that there’s ever a perfect time to start something,” she said. She continued by stressing the importance of self reflection before jumping into something like working towards New Year’s resolutions. To her, the first couple of weeks or months of the New Year are the perfect time to think back and plan how you are going to work towards meeting your goals. “I think it’s a little unrealistic to think that on Jan. 1, you’re going to completely live a different life, flip things upside down, or expect to make some major changes.”
In addition to talking about self reflection, Ms. Valenti reframed resolutions themselves, sharing her belief that thinking of resolutions as larger intentions and themes for the New Year will help her actually follow through in the months to come.
“I think larger intentions help shift your mindset and daily habits more to eventually achieve maybe more specific goals,” she said. “To achieve this, I’ve been trying to continue to get outside and walk even on these colder days because I love being outdoors.” She found that this time outside, whether it be during the school day or on weekend hikes, has really helped her stay present throughout the week. You might even catch Ms. Valenti getting her steps in around the KO campus!
Mrs. Valenti concluded by saying, “I think for me, I just want to try to have the intention of being present each day with whatever I’m doing and to not let things bother me so much.” In a world that is filled with so much stress and uncertainty, going into 2022 with intentions like these would certainly benefit everyone.
