New year, better me: Follow through with your resolution
Eat healthy.
Visit Italy.
Get a cool job.
Improve grades.
Spend more time with friends.
No, these are not random sentences that popped up in my mind. These are sentences many of us put on special lists we make at the end of every year or the beginning of the new one. These are some of the things we put on our New Year’s Resolutions. Jennifer Reid, Communications Director for Student Affairs and an adjunct faculty in the English Department, calls them goals.
“The word goal implies an achievement toward which effort is directed, focusing on the result rather than the process, and though I feel the process and journey toward a goal are important, if I commit to doing something I want to see it through.” Reid said.
This is the essence of New Year’s Resolutions: to achieve something one wants. Be a better person. Be a better student. Be a better professional.
Are our New Year’s Resolutions influenced by our age or profession?
Jordan French, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, wants to procrastinate less, spend his money wisely and eat healthier. John Heflin, a sophomore also in College of Arts & Sciences, wants to have better focus on his work, improve his attitude, listen more and work on developing some of his skills. Abdullah Aquili, a sophomore in the College of Engineering, wants to keep losing weight and get stronger, get better grades, keep praying five times a day, stay in touch with friends and meet new people.
Reid wants to drink more water and eat less sugar, start a blog, submit her book out to more publishing houses this year, say no more often, take care of her own self and walk her dog every day. The Rev. G. Simon Harak, Director for the Center for Peacemaking, wants to make more time for meditation.
Some, like French, seldom make New Year’s Resolutions. Others, like Aquili, started a few years ago. Yet others, like Reid and Heflin, have always had a resolution.
Although our resolutions might be different, we all strive to follow through with them. Heflin is honest about the fact that he doesn’t always follow through. However, this year he is determined to achieve everything on his list.“This year I am particularly excited because not only is this a new year, but it’s also the start of a new decade. I hope that I can change for the better in this set of ten years as I have in the last.” he said.
On the other hand, Reid and Aquili not only try to achieve their goals, but actually achieve them. They have secret tricks to do so.
Reid sets realistic goals that she writes down. “Printed words have a way of making things imminent.”
“I break down my resolution to specific six-months plans and then to monthly plans, so I can get to my goals by the end of the year and I evaluate myself.” Aquili said. He also gives a copy of his resolution to a friend to evaluate his efforts.
It doesn’t matter if we follow through or not. It doesn’t matter if we call them resolutions or goals. It doesn’t matter if it is an experiment or a life-long ritual. It doesn’t matter if we are students or professionals. New Year’s Resolutions are examples of our human desire to be better.
Tags: improvements, New Year's Resolutions, personal goals, professional goals
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