Every year on the first of January students make resolutions for themselves. New goals, mindsets and appearances created to transform their lives in the upcoming year, starting with the “New year, new me” mindset. While some celebrate their progress, others find themselves falling back into old routines. Nevertheless, the real question is whether anyone commits to the bit, or quits after a struggle.
Edgar Clark, a junior shared, “Something that inhibits me to stay consistent with my resolutions is a break in my schedule, [especially] my sleep schedule.”
Sleep is an extremely crucial part of life, which many students know by now due to parents and teachers’ constant reminders. A circadian rhythm is a mental clock that our brains rely on to have a consistent cycle of sleep and alertness. Proven by many psychologists, a disruption in one’s circadian rhythm creates detrimental short and long term effects on the body and mind. In high schoolers especially, the lack of sleep impacts the success and consistency of the resolutions made around new years, as Clark relates.
Another question to ask not just high schoolers but society in general: why are new year’s resolutions glorified if so many factors prohibit students from maintaining them? In our opinion, more media and attention should be brought onto the issues, rather than romanticizing out-of-reach ideals for the new year.
To understand what kinds of resolutions are being formed, junior Tyler Wilson shared, “I want to find out what college I’m going to, my future jobs that I want, things like that.”
Mostly amongst upperclassmen, resolutions tend to become career-based, as college and further education comes closer. Amongst this stress are groups of students, contemplating how to successfully maintain the consistency of their goals to better themselves as well as their future.
“Thinking about growing and becoming the person I want to be in the future and be proud of it,” senior Ellen Kwon commented.
Kwon shared that her friends and family helped her understand her true potential. Similarly, many students are struggling to maintain a proud self-image, as the process can be difficult especially amongst a time where social media creates habits of comparison and low body image. In our opinion, people should identify the problems that are so common amongst teens first, then create effective resolutions that can be worked on. If so many are struggling with similar issues, creating the conversation of how to resolve them can help people maintain consistency, knowing that their problems aren’t singular to one person.
Still, sticking to resolutions isn’t always easy, even with the help of others. One of the main reasons resolutions fail is that people aim too high.Trying to completely change your diet or become an A+ student overnight are examples of overwhelming goals that society stresses on to be the ideal goal. The all-or-nothing mentality is not always beneficial, as big goals are harder to stick to, which makes people feel like giving up when they don’t see quick or immediate results. To avoid this, people should create goals that are short term, and focus on those instead. Maintaining smaller goals creates a more effective plan. Even whilst creating long-term goals, they do not have to be the focus of everyday life, since the overwhelming amount of future plans can be deemed impossible to complete. The future’s ambiguity can create a pause on the journey towards completing, or even starting the resolution process.
New goals, mindsets and appearances will continue to be developed as each year progresses to the next. Making sure that the struggles, not just the ideal dreams of maintaining new year resolutions are brought to the attention of students, teachers, parents and society as a whole. This way the health and goal-setting process will be cleaner, easier and more effective. Maybe after completion of their goals, students will finally be able to say, “New year, new me.”