By Allie Nigro, Online Editor-in-Chief
Three, two, one, Happy New Year! Time to stop eating fast food, save more money and start journaling. Something most would call extremely unrealistic.
Whether big or small, we’ve all made a New Year’s resolution at least once in our life. No matter how determined you are to start saving money or eating healthier, before long, you’ll start asking yourself why New Year’s resolutions hardly ever stick.
Maybe it’s because they’re unrealistic, not motivating enough or a change you don’t actually need to make.
Sure, we would all like to be healthier, but not eating fast food for the whole year is entirely unrealistic for most. Waking up early to go to the gym every morning sounds pretty easy, until you’re a week in and getting little to no sleep.
If you’re going to make a change to better yourself for the new year it must be realistic. Find a goal that you can move toward without disrupting your everyday life.
It’s one thing to write a New Year’s resolution on a piece of paper, but finding the motivation to carry it out is another story. Most of us don’t realize that a lack of motivation is what normally causes our New Year’s resolutions to fall short.
If your only motivation is a new date on the calendar, don’t expect it to last longer than a month. If you truly want to make a change, you need some other kind of motivation. Whether that’s the desire to feel healthier or make smarter financial decisions, the start of a new year isn’t something that makes your goal stick. You have to put the effort in and realize it’s something you’re willing to work toward.
Many feel a lot of pressure to make a change in the new year, but if you really look at where you are in your life, it may not be a good time for you to set a goal. The holiday season can be a lot of pressure and mixed emotions on its own, so why add more stress to the beginning of the new year?
It’s not all or nothing, and if you fail to stick to your New Year’s resolution, don’t give up and wait until next year. Instead, find the problem and set a new goal, even if it takes a few tries to stick with it. You can make a change in your life no matter what day it is, and every year comes with ups and downs.
So when the new year rolls around and you start thinking about a resolution, ask yourself, “Is this an unrealistic goal I’m setting just because it’s a new year, or is this actually a change I need to make?”
It might help you start the new year off on a better foot than you might think.
Senior Allie Nigro can be reached at 23nigroal20@daretolearn.org.
