New year’s allows people to reflect on their past to better their future by making new year’s resolutions. These resolutions are often things we want to change, improve or enhance in our lives.
Resolutions are never negative. We like to call them self-motivators and self-enhancers. But they are losing their appeal because many people feel that resolutions are cliché. Cliché because many people make new year’s resolutions, with the hope of change and realize that there past has now become their future. All of their bad habits reoccur within a month.
But not to worry, there are ways to overcome this habitual failure.
Point one: Why start the New Year—every year, with the same resolution? If it did not work in the past, don’t do it again. Change bits and pieces of the same resolution that you know you can stick to.
Point two: Set realistic goals. Losing 50 pounds in a month is highly unrealistic, yet many people try! To stick to your weight loss program, try to get an accountability partner. An accountability partner should be someone you trust and who is trying to lose weight also, so that when you slip they can be there to get you back on track.
Point three: Get a group. We feel that a group of people working on the same goal will yield better results. If someone in the group were to lose motivation or get off track in the group there is a higher number of accountability.
Point four: Procrastination. Procrastination seems to be a problem for everyone, but not all procrastination is bad. Sometimes it produces the best work. If you are losing insane amounts of sleep, sleeping in class, doing poorly on tests—procrastination should be avoided at all costs.
Point five: Stress. If your goal is to stop stressing and you’re always stressed out, one word of advice is to breathe. Breathing in through your nose, out through your mouth produces the most calming effects and can take the stress right away. Also, students or faculty can take an exercise class at Sinclair or join a gym. Exercising, whether it is pilates, yoga or core conditioning can alleviate some of that winter quarter stress.
While every person’s new year’s resolution will be different, we hope that all will succeed in maintaining their goals. A new year can mean a new you!