New year new me

By Emery Lindy 

Artwork by Charlie LaMountain

Now that we are well into the month of February, you may have let your new year resolution go, but it is not too late to get it back. As long as you are striving to accomplish a goal, it doesn’t matter if it is Jan. 1 or the middle of June. 

In a recent survey sent to St. Mary’s high school students, 50% said they did not make a resolution this year. When asked to mention some of their resolutions, most students mentioned the classics: being healthier, wanting to be stronger, faster, kinder, friendlier, etc. However, one student mentioned that she wanted to go the rest of the school year without wearing the uniform skirt. Another girl set a goal to watch at least one movie a month.

Now, if new year resolutions are what push you out of your comfort zone and allow you to do something different, more power to you, but this tradition can seem arbitrary to some.

One St. Mary’s student said, “I'm generally averse to New Year's resolutions just because they imply that we have to wait to be better people. I think it's silly to vow to ‘leave things in last year’ when you can just cut things off or start implementing change in your life when it's time.”

Many suggest that goal setting is a more productive way to change behavior or achieve something. Goal setting has more to do with identifying a desired result rather than deciding to do or not do something specific. Let me put it this way: if life is race, resolutions are the bursts of energy at the beginning of each mile; they do not usually last. Goals, on the other hand, can help with the endurance required for the marathon. A goal is something you constantly try to achieve. Goals can be more helpful because they are harder to “break” than resolutions and there is often more than one way to achieve a goal, allowing the goal setter to continue feeling positive about her progress even on days when she is less deliberate about her actions.

You don’t have to wait until 2021 to try for a resolution again. Set a goal and get started being a better you.