While I am all about setting goals for myself and working to grow as a person, I have never been a fan of New Year’s resolutions. When I was younger, I think this distaste came simply from an unwillingness to commit to anything for such an extended period of time; after all, at thirteen years old, 365 days makes up quite a large chunk of your life so far. Even so, as one year gradually becomes a smaller portion of my life, I remain firm in my opposition to New Year’s resolutions for a number of reasons.
Possibly the biggest reason I am anti-New Year’s resolutions is because of how they are so often framed as a way of rebranding yourself or becoming a “new you.” In all honesty, I don’t want to do either of these things. While I am, as I previously said, always working to grow and improve, I don’t think that suddenly ascribing to the “clean girl aesthetic” or going on long runs is the way to do that. If anything, I think doing these things just because it is a new year may even have the potential to turn me into the antithesis of myself. And in what way does becoming someone who is, at her core, not me, make me into a better version of myself? Short answer: it doesn’t.
Don’t get me wrong, if you relate to the clean girl aesthetic or are a fan of running, then maybe resolutions like these are perfect for you! But even if this were the case for me—which it isn’t—I think there are much better ways to go about implementing such practices into your life than a sudden overhaul of your current habits.
Rather than trying to become a completely new person when I wake up in the morning, I prefer to set smaller, realistic goals for myself that I can keep building upon until I reach the “big cheese” goal. For instance, I desperately want to get back into reading. Rather than tell myself I’m going to read one book a week or thirty books a year, my current goal is to swap out some of the time I would normally spend doom scrolling on TikTok for reading. Admittedly, this goal is a bit abstract, and it might work better for others to set more definite goals, such as reading 20 minutes or 20 pages a day. But for me, I find that this is a great way to fit reading into my busy schedule without putting too much pressure on myself. My hope is that I eventually reach a point where it becomes instinct for me to grab my book instead of my phone when I have downtime.
This leads me to the next reason I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions, which is that it makes me feel like I am under a ton of pressure for things to go just right, otherwise my year is ruined. Now, this may not be the case for everyone. Some people have no problem getting back on track after a few days spent astray from their goals. If that’s you, I have so much respect and admiration for your ability to stay motivated! However, knowing myself means knowing that once I miss even just a couple days of practicing Spanish on Duolingo, it will be incredibly hard for me to get back into it. The last thing I want is to set a resolution for the new year and risk slipping up just weeks in and already feeling discouraged about how my year is going.
One more reason I don’t like New Year’s resolutions is that I simply think there are better options. I don’t see the point in waiting for a new year to implement a new habit into your routine. I think this even goes for waiting for a new month or week. If you want to make a change, I firmly believe that there is no better time to start than now!
In a sense, I am a bit of a hypocrite saying that. While I don’t normally wait for a new month or year to start something new, it is true that I may wait for a new week to begin if a particular habit revolves around a weekly schedule. For instance, if I want to start a new split at the gym, I probably will wait for a new week to make sure I am able to finish the current week in its entirety. When it comes to something like trying to read every day though, I don’t see the point in waiting until Sunday or Monday (depending on when you think the week starts). If I have the inspiration and motivation now, that makes the present the perfect time to begin!
To make a long story short, New Year’s resolutions are just not for me. I find that there are better ways I can achieve my goals and improve myself as a person. With that being said, if New Year’s resolutions are your cup of tea, then by all means, go for it!