With the blossoming of a new year upon us, many people start setting goals to make the most of 2026 and become the best versions of themselves. These goals are commonly referred to as “New Year’s Resolutions.” However, the real question remains whether these resolutions are actually being followed through with and are creating a positive impact on ourselves, or just setting us up for failure.
Resolutions are a good idea, and they help a lot of people at the beginning of the year. What many people have experienced, however, is that as the year progresses, we tend to forget about our previously set resolutions or just become lazy. For example, a common resolution for the new year is going to the gym more often. This is a great goal, and can be very impactful for people’s physical health and lifestyle when followed through with. However, most of the time, gyms are packed on January 1st, and back to normal by February. We just realized that 365 days is a lot of days to do something consistently, and it is extremely tempting to just go back to our normal, idle selves.
This realization can actually lead to more guilt throughout the year instead of progress. Knowing that your motivational flame burnt out, and you let yourself down on your goals, is a tough feeling to cope with. However, this guilt is part of the reason this cycle of resolutions keeps repeating. The beginning of the year is filled with excitement and determination to make this the best year of your life, but that excitement dies, and you return to your normal self in the middle of the year. At the end of the year, you realize you don’t want to feel that disappointment with yourself for just being regular again, so you set New Year’s resolutions, and the motivation turned to guilt cycle continues.
So that’s why I stopped setting serious New Year’s Resolutions for myself. Sure, it’s fun to brainstorm what the new year can hold, but I would rather just continue to be myself and be happy with that rather than try to change myself, fail, and become disappointed with myself. The term “New Year, New Me” doesn’t really resonate with me because even though it is a new calendar year, nothing else drastically changed. New Year’s Resolutions and the term “New Year, New Me” end up being false hope that soon disappears. If you are happy with yourself on December 31st, why feel the need to mess that all up on January 1st, when you can just continue being your normal self?