Common New Year’s Resolutions

According to Forbes Health, 62% of U.S adults feel pressured to set New Year resolutions. Despite this, statistics show that women are more pressured to set a resolution than men. What are New Year’s resolutions? New Year resolutions are a set of goals that a person sets for themselves for the new year. These are goals that people try to accomplish throughout the year to better themselves and get them excited. Although people may have a long list of goals and resolutions that they plan to fulfill, most of them are not completed.

What are some common New Year resolutions that people have? As stated by Forbes Health, U.S adults most common goals in an October 2023 poll include, improved fitness (48%), improved finances (38%), improved mental health (36%), to lose weight (34%), and a better diet (32%). Most of these common goals include something related to health. Common goals amongst U.S adults are to improve their health physically and mentally and fitness which means they want to better themselves Since this poll only includes 1,000 U.S adults, lets investigate to see what some resolutions of students and teachers of Hills West have.

Mrs. Maynard, a science teacher at Hills West, shared some of her goals with us. She stated this year that she has 2 public resolutions. The first is waking up 5 minutes earlier compared to her normal time on school days. The second public goal she shared was to become a better listener. Mrs. Maynard said that a New Year Resolution to her is, “A promise that you make to yourself for the New Year”. Although she set these goals for herself, she was not confident that she would be able to accomplish them. She gave a 40% chance of her completing these goals. Overall, Mrs. Maynard is focused on listening to other people more and waking up earlier, but is not too confident in completing them.

Suki Dong, a 10th grader at Hills West, stated that she has 2 public goals for the New Year. As a pole vaulter, one of Suki’s goals is to jump 11 feet by the end of the winter season and 12 feet by the end of the spring season. To her, a New Year’s resolution is, “something that means a lot to you”. Even though she made these goals, in the past she stated that she has not completed some of her goals. One goal she never accomplished but still wishes to is drinking a bottle of water each day. Since she set these goals for herself, she is very confident that she will be able to accomplish them. Suki is very focused on her health and improving her pole vaulting skills this upcoming year with having lots of confidence.

Another 10th grader at Hills West, Adah Ruben, shared 2 New Year Resolutions that she has for New Year. Her first goal was to keep up her health by losing weight. An additional goal is to be promoted at her place of employment so she could make more money. In her opinion, a New Year’s resolution is “something that you plan to keep up through the New Year”. She said that her family share their goals amongst each other, but notice new and unique goals each year. Adah sees herself being able to attempt these goals, but does not see herself accomplishing those goals.

Out of the interviews taken among 2 students and 1 teacher, they all seem to want to improve their health or fitness in some way. This trend is similar to the one from Forbes’; people wanting to improve their physical state. Although they had these goals, only Suki Dong was very confident that she would be able to accomplish them. For the New Year, people need to improve their confidence so that they feel more likely to attempt and complete their goals.