The new year is a time for festivities, friends and lofty aspirations about what may change in the coming months. People might start ignoring Donald Trump, and hoverboards might become accepted forms of transportation.
While the statuses of Trumpamania and self-balancing scooters are up in the air, people’s anxiety sets in for things within their control. The end of the calendar year makes people realize how much of a lazy sack of suck they were.
People see Jan. 1 as a do-over. That nagging voice in the back of people’s heads gets optimistic for once: “This will finally be the year I quit smoking, lose some weight, get my life together and do something with myself. 2016 is my year, dammit!”
Give me a break. New Year’s resolutions are like goldfish for 10-year-olds. The children can’t wait to feed them every day, but Goldie is belly up in the toilet by the end of the month.
Such is the life of a New Year’s resolution. According to a 2002 study, about a quarter of people who make a resolution gave up after a week. Other estimates, these from 2011, calculate people never accomplish 88 percent of their resolutions.
We’ll never know the exact motivations, or lack thereof, of those quitters. However, one of the most frequently cited reasons people fail in their pursuits is because their goals are too vague and optimistic.
I don’t want to sound like a life-coach or a Vemma salesman, but this problem is fixable. Setting concrete, realistic goals and sticking to them is not impossible.
The trap I’ve found most people fall into is thinking that a diet or exercise is something they can pick up and put down like a book or a TV series on Netflix. Eating healthier and getting in shape is a lifestyle choice.
Cheat days don’t exist. You cannot eat that extra cookie, even if you “deserve it.” Unless you have tremendous self-control, abstention is the only option for losing weight, quitting smoking or whatever bad habit you want to kick.
That means most of us will not stick with our New Year’s resolutions. That’s okay. I love watching “Making a Murderer” while eating mozzarella sticks dipped in melted butter, and you should too. I just don’t pretend I’m a health nut while doing it.
Jack Richards is a 21 year old mass communication junior from New Orleans. You can reach him on Twitter at @jayellrichy
10 Things Students Already Started Doing Again
1. Ordering off the dollar menu so you can eat five sandwiches.
2. Picking up a six pack because “work was rough.”
3. Waking up at noon.
4. Checking Snapchat every five minutes.
5. Procrastinating ordering textbooks.
6. Posting angsty comments on Yik Yak.
7. Binge-watching Netflix (shout-out to Making a Murderer).
8. Forgetting the keys to success.
9. Another one.
10. Reading lists about relatable feelings and experiences.