Don’t wait for New Year’s resolutions to make a change
Tradition is a powerful tool behind all human cultures. In America, we have Thanksgiving dinner, put up Christmas trees and celebrate the New Year. However, there is another tradition I don’t quite understand so much: New Year’s resolutions.
The intention behind New Year’s resolutions is to improve yourself and create a new “you” in line with the New Year. Some of the common changes people aim for include losing weight, eating better and studying harder. These aren’t bad virtues to work toward; it’s always good for people to set goals for themselves.
The problem is this tradition of making a resolution also includes failing it down the line. For those who go to the Wellness Center on a regular basis already, January is the worst month for that place. There is an influx of newbies who think that by making a stance on their health will cause them to change almost overnight. And then once February rolls around, it seems like the Wellness Center itself lost a ton of weight. The newcomers just disappear. It’s fine to start working out and improving your wellbeing. It’s not fine to have unrealistic expectations.
That’s the key word here: unrealistic expectations. The people who have been working out for many years know how hard it is to cut weight or gain muscle. That kind of change takes weeks if not months to accomplish. It also takes a lot dedication to acquire that kind of body in the first place.
The studying part is also really funny. Any student that makes a resolution to study harder for the next semester missed the finals train already. Getting homework done and doing well on exams is tough to do sometimes. But when people make that kind of statement after finals week, I feel that they missed an opportunity a long time ago.
What I am trying to say is people should change themselves now. People shouldn’t have to wait until the year changes before they can start improving themselves. And it shouldn’t be a group thing either. More often than not, when one person decides to fail on their resolution, everybody else will start to follow suit as well. Groupthink is a powerful thing.
As college students, we are already above the curve. We should be self-motivated to take control of our life and accomplish the goals we set for ourselves before we stepped foot on campus. If people want to improve their life, they should start today. Eat healthier foods when lunch comes up tomorrow. Start running on the treadmill at 8 a.m. the next morning. Buckle down and study hard for those final exams when you are done reading this article. When next year comes around, you’ll be so proud at what you accomplished because you started today. All you need is the determination to keep moving forward.
Reach columnist Charlie Dalldorf at [email protected]
