New Year's Resolution

2022 is almost history. Could 2023 be the year you make (and keep) your resolutions?

The year is coming to a close and Christmas is right around the corner, but have you forgotten the commitment you made at the beginning of this year? The New Year's Resolution is a promise to ourselves at the beginning of the year, but do people actually follow and keep their resolutions?

Resolutions go back as far as ancient Babylonians. According to History.com the Babylonians are said to be one of the first to make new year resolutions and instead of doing this celebration in January they did it in mid-March so that their crops could be planted. They made promises to their gods to pay their debts and return anything they borrowed, this was a prologue to new year resolutions as they thought keeping these promises would give them the god’s favor for the coming year meaning they had luck on their side.

Personally, I've always found it hard to follow new year resolutions and I find myself not keeping them at the end of the year because I completely forget about them so my question to you is, have you followed your new year resolutions or have you given up on your commitment? I’ve interviewed a few students and staff to see their answers on these questions to see if they followed or forgot their resolutions this year.

JC Garcia is an 11th grade student. I asked him if he had a new years resolution at first to see if he even had one and he did. He said “My resolution was to workout more in the gym and focus more on my studies at school.” It is a simple but good resolution for everyone who makes it but is he still following it is my question? He says “Yes I still do follow it to this day.” JC still follows his resolution strongly (at the time of this interview he was working on his school work right next to me).

Kevin Chavez (12th grade) said his new year resolution was to run 150 miles this year and he seems to have exceeded that goal as he has actually ran over 200 miles! Purely from just this he lost 20 pounds. Kevin seems to have actually kept his resolution just like Jc and stayed loyal to it.

Mr. Falzone, the 11th grade US History Teacher and American Government for 12th grade, made a resolution to read 52 books in the year. He’s said that he probably failed this resolution because he has only read 25 books but reads everyday. He doesn’t expect to read the rest of the 27 books this month so this goal is probably not going to be met, but at least he hasn’t forgotten it to remember for the upcoming year, and he has still enjoyed the habits of daily reading.

At least from this small sample size, it seems that many people do follow their resolutions and that most people who make these resolutions actually remember them. I respect the people who actually go out of their way to make these resolutions and follow them for the whole year so they have some type of challenge to look forward to for the year. Once Christmas passes, maybe spend some time with yourself to make a New Years Resolution this year to be healthier or to get some new skills. Challenges and goals are good for us, so good luck if you are up to the challenge of your 2023 resolutions!