For many New Years, New Year’s resolutions have been made by those seeking hope for a better year, a fresh start. This year proves to be no different, as many people are particularly eager to leave the year behind and welcome 2017 with open arms, after some harsh final days of 2016. However, with New Year’s Resolutions, comes the pressure to uphold and fulfill them, which often causes many people to completely abandon their goals. And this is exactly what spurs some to disregard making New Year’s resolutions altogether; they feel that it is simply not worth it.
But what really motivates individuals to make New Year’s resolutions? And what causes them to break them?
The New Year’s resolution dates back centuries to the Babylonians, the first group of individuals to make them. However, their motives were slightly different – to appease the gods, and promise to make up owed debts.
Nowadays, the main reason individuals make New Year’s resolutions is to improve their lifestyle and become better versions of themselves. These often include both mental and physical changes. For 2017, the most popular resolution is to lose weight and eat healthier, with life and self improvements coming in a close second. This demonstrates the constant battle we are in with ourselves to both be, and do, better. Whether the previous year was fulfilling or not, there is always the urge to make the New Year surpass its predecessor. New Year’s resolutions provide the perfect opportunity to finally make yourself that promise of going to the gym or getting better grades. But actually following through with this promise is another story.
Despite their popularity, New Year’s resolutions are practically known for being made to be broken. Although this is not the case for all individuals, failed New Year’s resolutions are extremely common. Perhaps this is due to life’s responsibilities, which often interfere with one’s plans and goals. Suddenly that New Year’s resolution to go to the gym more often is disregarded because you simply have no time between school, work, and extracurricular activities. In addition to life’s hecticness, one’s old habits also prevent him or her from upholding the New Year’s resolution. Your promise to be productive and get better grades? Forget about it; your procrastination tendencies kick in, and six episodes later on Netflix, it’s midnight and you’re just starting that essay the night before it’s due. The effort to improve oneself may be there, but the old ‘actions speak louder than words’ saying rings true in this case, proving that New Year’s resolutions aren’t truly beneficial unless they are actually practiced. 
This only leaves us to speculate: are we setting ourselves up to fail by making New Year’s resolutions? And if so, then why do we continue to make them each year? Perhaps it all circles back around to the fact that people want to believe in truly bettering themselves and their future. Sure, it doesn’t make some of the mistakes you made, or rough times you endured during the previous year, better, but it allows you to possibly accept them, for the New Year offers a fresh beginning to leave these trials and tribulations behind.
Of course, as mentioned before, things are often easier said than done, and before you know it, it’s halfway through the New Year and that resolution has been left on the backburner. So, although people may be setting themselves up for failure, they will most likely make another New Year’s resolution the following year and so forth, with the hopes of actually fulfilling it this time. Whether it actually happens or not is up to the resolution’s creator, but at least the thought is there, for who can truly blame someone who possesses an unrelenting ‘new year, new me’ attitude?
After all, it sure is infectious.
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