For most college students, New Year’s means partying, watching the ball drop, and a fresh start in their young lives. I asked fellow collegiates in Southern California what their new resolutions were, and what holds them back from completing them. Their answers are everything you would expect, because they’re completely relatable.
1. Stop procrastinating.
This is every college student’s biggest problem. Due to spending their entire lives doing something they dread (like attending classes or studying), feeling excited about school is just out of the question, and procrastination is the only result.
“There’s always something else to distract you,” Brendan Lam says, a second year attending Cal Poly Pomona. In this day and age, there are just too many distractions. In fact, you’re probably procrastinating right now by reading this article.
2. Get more sleep.
Sometimes, you cannot even squeeze in an extra fifteen minutes because of that damned 8 a.m. class, and at the same time, you cannot fall asleep any earlier. Time flies by when you’re studying (or procrastinating), and before you know it you only have four hours to sleep. But maybe even then, you give up because you know if you sleep you won’t be able to wake up on time for class. It’s a never ending vicious cycle. That is, of course, until you collapse from exhaustion.
3. Introduce yourself to that one person in class.
Everybody has somebody in their class that they want to be friends with but lack the guts to approach them. There doesn’t even have to be a romantic attraction, maybe you just want a new friend and that person seems to be a good candidate.
4. Eat healthier.
Ever heard of breakfast being the most important meal of the day? Unfortunately for college students, breakfast is probably the most disregarded meal. Many students wake up just early enough to get ready and head to class, but there is never room for a bite to eat. The central reason is that they are not willing to make time for breakfast because it feels unimportant and sadly, a waste of time. Lunch is just around the corner anyway, or so that’s what Sophie Ho, a freshman at UC Santa Barbara, thinks.
“The opportunity cost of a 20 minute breakfast is just too high,” Ho says. “Time is of the essence and I’d much rather sleep in so I can stay awake in class.
Breakfast is just the start of it though. There are fast-food joints all over campus and across it. Their low prices are hard to miss out on, but think about your cholesterol levels and the amount of unhealthy fats that are in that In-N-Out burger, or to put it more simply, avoid eating too many processed foods and saturated fats, and you may not have to get your lazy butt to the gym.
5. Don’t get distracted in class.
You’re lying if you say you’ve never touched your phone during a lecture. The urge is too strong especially when you’ve given up on understanding the material. You’ve tried taking notes and leaving your phone in your pocket or backpack, but in the end the best solution is not to have it with you in the first place. That, however, is obviously out of the question.
6. Stop skipping classes.
There is always that one day where you’re thinking, “Class is so pointless, especially today’s topic.” So you follow your heart instead of your instinct, and skip. But the next day you regret it, because you feel like you missed out on something important, or maybe you just don’t care. Either way, skipping class never produces higher results, and you can only lose. Why not just invest that hour of your precious time in order to save your GPA? Your social life can wait… or not.
7. Don’t spend too much money.
Ah, but what would happen to your social life if you weren’t willing to go out and have some fun? Finding the balance is tricky if you don’t know how to manage your time and money. The best piece of advice I can offer you is to only eat or go out 1-2 times a week, but where’s the fun in that?
8. You don’t even have a resolution.
Because you’ve given up. “I find them to be so pointless because I never stick to them,” says Janel Chang, a second year at Pacific Union College. Resolutions are for the optimistic and try-hards. Who follows through with resolutions these days anyway?
“My New Year’s resolution is to just take better care of myself,” Joshua Chun, a sophomore at UCI says, “But let’s be honest, New Year’s Resolutions are made, broken, and long forgotten before March.” He couldn’t have said it better.