Bringing in the New Year, for some, comes with a classic tradition: making New Year’s resolutions. Many view the New Year as a time for change, personal betterment and an opportunity to be the person one wants to become. Several South students have resolved to make changes to their lifestyle this year.
In a non-scientific Oracle conducted survey, 49 of 162 students responded saying that they have made a resolution. One of those students, junior Iñaki Bascaran, made a resolution to stop drinking soda and other sugary drinks.
“I drank soda regularly through 2014, but I started seeing the downside and the negative effects,” Bascaran said. “I just wanted to have a healthier year, and getting rid of soda in my life was one of those first steps.”
In addition, junior Lauren Benson’s resolution is to read more outside of school-required materials, in order to return to what used to be a habit of hers.
“When I was younger, I always liked to read a lot; I’d read a ton,” Benson said. “But when I came to high school, I kind of stopped doing that, because I became so preoccupied with homework. But, I wanted to start that up again because I have a really long book list.”
Benson also plans on running to prepare for the upcoming track season. According to Benson, she does not want the first day of the season to be too grueling.
“I was in cross country in the fall and I’m going to do track in the spring, so I kind of wanted to run more over the winter so I get in shape, get stronger, and be more prepared when track season comes around,” Benson said.
Senior Dustin George made a rather different resolution this year. Instead of doing something physical, George resolved to mentally focus on the positive aspects of life, because he finds himself dissatisfied due to his pessimism and lack of focus on his accomplishments.
“I’ve been told that I’m too humble, and that I should learn to recognize my accomplishments, but I’m also a pessimist at times,” George said. “And so I’m trying to have an open outlook on life.”
However, Bascaran, Benson and George agreed that resolutions require work and effort to be put into them, and maybe aren’t for everyone.
“I don’t think that they work as well as people plan on them to, initially,” Benson said. “It’s really easy to make the resolution and for the first couple of days, to keep up with it, but it definitely becomes harder further into the year.”
Bascaran believes that compared to the physical effort required to maintain the integrity of a person’s resolution, resolutions are more mentally and psychologically challenging.
“You really need to have the self-determination and self-discipline, and a lot of people say, ‘Oh, well, this year, I’m going to work out a lot,’ but usually they go the first day, and the second day they just stop,” Bascaran said. “They don’t have the self-discipline.”
On the contrary, according to George, he believes in the persistence of one’s goals, and not giving up after minor slip-ups.
“Even if you break your New Year’s resolution, it’s better to keep trying it again, rather than just call it quits and forget about it for the rest of the year,” George explained. “It’s important to keep trying and trying, until one day, it finally sticks.”
