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January 11, 2008 > Opinion > New Year’s resolutions should be all year ‘round

New Year’s resolutions should be all year ‘round

By Amanda Melchor | Thresher Editorial Staff

New Year’s Day is truly unique in our society. On no other day do so many people come together and promise to change themselves with simple resolutions: lose weight, have more patience, read the newspaper more often.

The reason is simple. New Year’s Eve marks the end of an old year and symbolically closes the past year’s regrets and mistakes. It is the literal beginning of a new year and brings with it the hope of a better future. This new future bubbles with myriad possibilities. The remainder of our lives and the world itself rests front and center, ripe for the taking.

Though resolutions give us a positive goal and opportunity for improvement, this pressure for improvement causes the resolution to inadvertently carry with it some potentially negative effects. In a study done by the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, only 19 percent of Americans actually follow through with their New Year’s resolutions after two years. That percentage is almost as high as the acceptance rate into Rice. Almost.

While discouraging, the finding is hardly a revelation. Self-improvement is tough and made even harder while struggling to achieve multiple resolutions simultaneously. Couple this resolution business with the rigors of everyday life — classes, job searches, college and club responsibilities — and the chance of sticking with a resolution dwindles even further. I have been caught in this resolution trap and am all too familiar with that pang of disappointment and shame when my resolutions fail to last past Valentine’s Day. It feels as though the future is bleak and our natures unchangeable even when we are most determined to change.

All this anguish makes me wonder: Why do we confine all pledges of self-improvement to a single day? It is rare to find yourself or a friend saying, “I’ve made a first day of spring resolution to be nicer to other people,” or “I’ve made a Fourth of July resolution to eat healthier.” And often when a resolution is broken, many do not decide to re-apply it and start afresh. The resolution is simply abandoned along with its potential. Without the prompted reflection brought on by the previous year and the advent of a new one, changes are more difficult to discover and put into practice. A true resolution claims no sole time or place. It can happen wherever and whenever.

Instead of only resolving to reflect and initiate change one day a year and abandoning it at the first major stumbling block, reflection and improvement should be something we all embrace constantly. The first day of spring, Columbus Day or even Wednesday is an opportunity to momentarily reflect on our lives and resolve to be better people.

It is important to remember that there are 11 other months in the year in which to improve ourselves. The only obstacle standing in the way of the achievement of our resolutions is our own resolve. Resolutions are important, powerful and positive because they allow us to re-evaluate our lives and values and encourage us to improve ourselves in an upbeat way. New Year’s should not mark the only day we begin making resolutions, but the day we decide to make each day a possibility for reflection and self-improvement.

Amanda Melchor is a Hanszen College junior and opinion editor.

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