New Year’s Resolutions: Helpful or Hated?

Maria Tsevdos '26

Around late December, just as the Christmas spirit is beginning to fade people write down their New Year's resolutions. They write down their hopes and dreams and goals that they want to stick to and accomplish by the end of the year.

Yet as most know (and how they are most popularly portrayed) resolutions are quickly dropped, most goals do not even make it to January 31. That leads people to wonder, are resolutions even relevant? Or are they just a holiday tradition like a Christmas tree, meant to be discarded in a few weeks?

The vast majority of resolutions are on the line of self improvement, especially on the subject of health. Better fitness and eating habits are the top resolution for most Americans. According to Forbes, 48% of Americans make this their goal.

A few other popular ones are the improvement of finances (38%), better mental health (36%). Going hand in hand fourth and fifth place are losing weight and have a better diet, at 34% and 32% respectively. New Year's resolutions are a bit more than goals for you and only you. Many people feel pressured by their environment to make resolutions, if they don’t want to. Women tend to feel more pressure by their peers than men. 

This leads to the question: do New Year’s resolutions ever prove useful? Most people start off the year with high expectations of sticking to what they have written down. Yet less than then percent of the population accomplish even half their goals. Most stop trying after around three months. Of course this isn’t the resolutions fault, it’s whoever set the goal. Most people who do stick to their resolutions end up believing that their accomplishments will have positive effects lasting beyond three years. 

While most discard their new year dreams after just a few short months, (or even weeks) it is still an effective way to boost cheer and productivity for the new year. Many people take joy in writing their resolutions down, and it gives them optimism and hope as they enter the new year.

Then of course there are those who actually stick to everything from January to December, they have left the year a better person and will more than likely stick to the upcoming years goals.

All in all, New Year resolutions, whether stuck to or not, give a sense of hope and cheer as people face the prospect of having no clue of what will happen next.