New Year Resolutions

A good method of self-impovement, or a waste of time?

For

Tasha Prest-Smith

January is arguably one of the worst months of the year – exams, essays, gale force winds and no money. You may as well have something to take your mind off it.

New Year Resolutions are fabulous little things, there’s no doubt about that. They give you the chance to write down all those niggling problem areas that have been brewing over the last year (or even the last few years). According to research, we’re 11 times more likely to achieve a goal if we write it down. From the moment you’ve recorded your list, you have a set of aims, of challenges. It can be a tough test, but damn, it feels good when you actually achieve some of those aims.

The beauty of resolutions is that they can be big or small. “I will actively contribute to the continuing struggle for world peace” or “I will smile sweetly and sincerely every time I see the girl who tried to seduce my boyfriend”, while meaning well, are unlikely to be carried through. More realistic aspirations, such as easing off on the constant ghd-induced frazzlement of your hair, or opting for an extra bag of pink grapefruits rather than a Cadbury’s mini-assortment pack, can ensure that resolutions can and do work. Unless you’re a genius of willpower, you’re never going to stick to all of them. But some you will, and as a result, you’re allowed to feel extremely happy with yourself.

Of course, you can get carried away. Around 40% of break ups occur around New Year, because resolutions get you thinking about what’s going wrong in your life and your interactions with everyone around you. You might decide to finally take the plunge and become a redhead, or take up Chinese, which could replace all those hours you spent procrastinating on Facebook.

The possibilities are endless. What you can end up with is a complete revamp of your life, because resolutions ensure that you remain a dynamic, self-aware person.

Against

Ruth Doey

Hello disappointment! New Year Resolutions seem to prove our inability to make ourselves thinner, fitter or to quit smoking.

As a six-year-old cutting-edge designer I decided to assemble my first floating shelf. After barely three minutes of thought I began to plaster a shallow wooden box with Pritt Stick. Then I attempted to attach this to my clean, white wall. It didn’t stick. I tried relentlessly for half an hour but the only effects it had were to mark the wall and annoy my parents.

Isn’t this the way with our resolutions? We don’t think them through, often they’re barely realistic and so they don’t work out, leaving us smudged with disappointment.

Have you ever wondered why we feel we must become incredibly skinny or super fit? It’s obvious really: it comes from that old nemesis, the media. The media constantly presents us with ‘beautiful’, successful celebrities. At the back of our minds, we know that they’re airbrushed anorexics, yet we still aim to be like them.

New Year Resolutions are also a commercial gimmick. Swindling people out of their money by playing on their supposed inadequacy that has been created by celebrity and media culture. It’s ironic really that all the big shops fill up with ‘be healthy’ diet plans, nicotine patches and lycra when you can acquire the same paraphernalia from a charity shop, courtesy of last year’s failures. Wake up to the reality of New Year Resolutions and avoid needless discontentment.

It is right to want to better ourselves, but shouldn’t we do this altruistically? For example, if you want to get healthier then why not run the ‘Race for Life’ and do it to raise money for charity. Alternatively, ever thought of resolving to be a kinder, more patient person? Be unconventional. Be reflective. But do it when you have thought it through – regardless of the time of year. We don’t have to be failures, so put the Pritt Stick down.