“New year, new me!” We’ve all heard it a thousand times before. The idea of pressing a restart button after the clock strikes midnight is really exciting to a lot of people. It is a chance to reinvent yourself and hold yourself to higher standards. But as we all know, two weeks into the new year, everyone drops the act and falls right back into their old, bad habits.
“I think the concept of New Year’s resolutions is a really great idea; however it’s very rare for people to actually follow through with them,” junior Geneva Smith said.
It’s not easy to stay motivated with resolutions, which is why it’s important to set reasonable and measurable goals so you’re able to track your progress and don’t set yourself up for failure.
“Next year I plan to accomplish more in sports and in school than I did this year, by practicing more outside of school practice, and by seeing my teachers more after class and during lunch,” junior Ethan Oyeniyi said.
Finding small amounts of time to do a little something for yourself is an extremely important thing which a lot of people forget to do in our busy world, especially as high school students.
“My New Year’s resolution is to find more time to read because I don’t do it enough anymore. I’m going to try to keep the book I’m currently reading everywhere in case I have spare time,” junior Yael Greenberg said.
School is also a common area where students wish to improve. If you set specific goals, for example, putting in an extra hour a week studying, you can hold yourself accountable for that plan and eventually see better results. It is harder to fall off track if you have a set plan to follow.
“My New Year’s resolution is to get my grades up to all As. I’m going to do it by studying harder and doing all my work on time,” sophomore Cooper Mahne said.
Regardless of whatever you do or don’t achieve in 2019, the important thing is to make sure you’re challenging yourself. If you don’t get straight As, it definitely won’t be the end of the world and there is always next year. Another thing to think about is that not all resolutions have to be academic. There are plenty of ways you can challenge yourself to grow as a person in the new year, for example doing something completely selfless once a day. If you’re pushing yourself to be better than you were last year, you’re already ahead of the game.