2023 has come to an end, and for some Ohio University students, the new year is the perfect opportunity to make new resolutions. However, others have found that resolutions can be hard to stick to and believe that just because a new year is starting doesn't mean that they must make a change in their lives.
According to a study done by Forbes, 37% of Americans plan to work on some sort of resolution for the new year and 87% said they were very or somewhat likely to keep it for the whole year. The most popular resolution according to the study was improving fitness at 48% followed by improving finances at 38%.
Research on the subject is divided as a study completed by Ohio State University said only 9% of those setting a New Year’s resolution actually complete them. The study also found that the most common reasons for not completing resolutions included setting a goal due to tradition rather than an actual wish for change, not expecting obstacles and giving up when facing them, setting unrealistic goals and not holding oneself accountable.
Paige Boughambo, a senior studying psychology, said she has been a fan of New Year’s resolutions and plans on having one for 2024 to start off the new year with something new in her life.
She said the resolution she plans on sticking to this year is going to the gym more often. Boughambo said she has tried to stick to a gym routine in the past but has found when the gym is far away, it becomes more of a hassle to go and she often loses the motivation to stick to her resolution.
“I want to go back to the gym more consistently because I felt a lot better when I was going consistently,” she said. “I also think I just want to read more in general because I do enjoy that and I kind of just stopped doing that.”
Boughambo said she thinks it is very important to implement something new as a New Year’s resolution because the start of a new year gives someone the perfect opportunity to try and stick to something they have never done before.
“I feel like it kind of puts something in your brain like, ‘OK, it's a new year. You can start something new,’” she said.
Cian Sheil, a freshman studying political science, has not had a successfully implemented New Year’s resolution. Sheil said despite multiple attempts at following through with one, she feels as though there is more success with resolutions when they are implemented naturally whenever it is the right time, rather than implementing them for the sole reason of it being the new year.
“It’s something that I have never successfully done,” Sheil said. “I’ve toyed with the idea, of course, but I have reached a point now where I just don’t think there’s really any point in telling myself that I’m going to do it because it’s not going to happen anyway. You know, it’s not that I do not want to ever make changes, but I think it’s more useful to do things when I actually think I’m going to do them because I don’t always want to actually do the things that I say I’m going to do right out of the new year.”
