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New Year, Same Shit – Why I Don’t Believe in Resolutions

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at BU chapter.

Contrary to my relatively optimistic nature, I think resolutions are such a waste of time. Goals, as a concept, can be extremely wonderful; there’s something powerful about saying something and putting it into the universe that motivates us to follow through.

Unfortunately, resolutions tend to be far-reaching goals that are made, weakly attempted, and quickly dropped. It’s a relatively well-known fact that most people give up on their resolutions by the third week of January.

Dude. People can’t even follow through for an entire month…which leads me to my first issue with resolutions.

One of my biggest frustrations, in any situation, is when people are all talk but don’t act upon their intentions. In the strange week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, where the simulation seems to glitch and no one knows what day it is, friends and family everywhere start thinking and letting others know what their goals for the new year are. That’s fine and dandy, but if I’m going to be dragged into hearing about this goal, I better see you striving to achieve it.

My second frustration? People generally only set these goals at the beginning of the year. Why do we limit ourselves? Why can’t we make smaller goals more often? I am willing to bet good money that if we made smaller more attainable goals, people would stick to them better.

So, instead of making a New Year’s resolution, my roommate and I have started making semester and summer goals. So far, we’ve kept up with them, and they’re relatively diverse in range. From waking up before 9 to spending less time on our phones, I can confidently say we’ve only caved on them once and immediately rebounded.

Reaching and maintaining goals are totally doable. Instead of putting heavy pressure title on it, just focus on taking the small steps every day. We spend so much time thinking about how much we could get done if we did that one thing, so why not just do it?

So, instead of ignoring those goals I know you made, make smaller more realistic goals and stick to them. “New year, new me,” is completely possible if you don’t set yourself up for failure with unrealistic goals. Go get ‘em, HC babes!

 

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Jericha is a senior at Boston University studying Psychology and Public Health. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music, especially country and worships Taylor Swift and the band Joseph. She enjoys food and thinks avocados are too small for how expensive they are. When school is out of session, you can find her skillfully avoiding sunshine - working at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Writers of the Boston University chapter of Her Campus.