Burlap Sack: New Year’s resolutions

Most of us have been making New Year’s resolutions since elementary school. At this point in our lives, it’s not as much fun anymore — yet we still do it. After the New Year’s party is over and we’ve recovered from the hangover, most of us are left with a list of resolutions to manage our money better, go to the gym, or eat more greens. There’s so much pressure to reinvent yourself as the calendar changes. However, we usually end up using New Year’s resolutions as another way to compare ourselves to others and measure failure. 

While there’s nothing wrong with improving your health or finances, a new year doesn’t make it any easier to achieve. Like most people, the only thing my New Year’s resolutions ever lead to is disappointment — if I don’t forget about them entirely.

It’s hard to resist the supposed magic of resolutions when everyone seems to be committed to going to the gym and starting a twelve-step skincare routine. Social media influencers and advertisements only pressure us further to set New Year’s resolutions we can’t follow through on. Despite what social media influencers might make you think, resolutions won’t make you into better version of yourself. 

Most people don’t follow through with their New Year’s resolutions. A lot of us usually toss them aside within the first couple months of the year. The idea that we will stay committed to a goal for an entire year creates a lot of unnecessary internal pressure. However, dropping our resolutions doesn’t mean we’ve failed or that we should give up on making positive changes in our lives. And it definitely doesn’t mean that we have to wait another year to try again. 

We need to take care of ourselves all year, not just for the first few weeks of January. Problems like being in debt or out of shape don’t only occur around each new year. You don’t have to wait for a special day to try something new or eat more vegetables. Set new goals when it matters most to you, not on a day when everyone else is doing it.

You can make improvements to your health and learn new things any time. It doesn’t have to be as daunting as 365 days of perfection — it can be consistently trying to make small changes in our lives. Setting big goals can lead to demotivation. It takes achievable small goals and habits made to make real change.

You don’t need big, impressive goals at the beginning of the year to improve your life. Save yourself the disappointment (and the cost of a yearly gym membership) and focus on the smaller things.