Resolutions – a salute to the old year and welcoming of the new. Sharpay in “High School Musical 2” said it perfectly, “It’s out with the old and in with the new. Goodbye clouds of grey, hello skies of blue.” Resolutions are basically the Marie Kondoing of your emotional and mental baggage for the new year. A fresh start. Au revoir à 2020. 

Maybe the true reason for New Year’s Resolutions is to wish the old year good riddance and pray for the best in the upcoming 365 days. If that is the case, we were all jinxed. We all know it, but there is no harm in saying it: 2020 sucked. Maybe the reason 2020 sucked is because everyone expected it to go a lot better and be the best year yet. Basically everyone’s expectations for every year. Do expectations change the trajectory of the year? Should we have low expectations in order for things to go well? Honestly, that seems kind of excessive, but whatever it takes, right?

Personally, I love New Year’s Resolutions, but to me, they are the same as any type of wish or goal during the year. I really do not understand the people that decide to wait a month to start their goals so they can start in the ~new year~. Like the New Year changes the way the world turns! Seriously, this year it was a Tuesday. Super special, huh?

Do not get me wrong, goals and wishes are basically what keeps me sane and what has got me through this whole global pandemic type of beat. But, that does not mean you just switch on your goals Jan. 1. To make your goals and dreams come true you need to actually work, you cannot just write something down on a piece of paper. 

For example, I want to move to Italy. That does not mean by making a mood board of Italy photos I will magically transport myself to Rome. I have to work at it, make money and go to school, etc. From my expertise, to make things actually happen, you have to go through and complete the whole nine yards. 

Honestly every year, despite these points, I find myself writing my New Year’s Resolutions in a new clean and neat journal that I previously ordered off of Amazon. I really could not tell you what sucks me in into writing resolutions. Maybe just the sheer ignorance or even hopefulness that they will all be completed in under 365 days. 

How do you actually make New Year’s Resolutions come true? Is there a secret method to people’s madness that I do not know about? Because every year since I was nine, I have written these resolutions and on Dec. 31 realized that I accomplished nothing. It is not like I am a couch potato, but am I just focusing on the wrong things or I am doing this whole soiree wrong?

For the people out there who do not write or even have New Year’s Resolutions, what do you do to bring in the new year? I do not think that you can just keep the door open, like letting in Elijah on Passover. But then what is it? What can I do to ensure that my resolutions are successful?

I feel like for some people New Year’s resolutions are there to give that person a purpose and motivation to achieve their intentions. However, why can you not give yourself a purpose every day? Why does it have to only start on Jan. 1? If we are being completely transparent here, I wrote my New Year’s resolutions on Jan. 3. I am definitely embarrassed by this, but this does not mean that my goals are less important, truthful or less likely to happen. 

If you think about it, how else would you welcome in the New Year. Resolutions are the perfect balance of saying sayonara past and hello future. 

When I looked up the definition of resolution it said, “a firm decision to do something or not to do something.” But how many people stick to their resolutions over the entire year? 365 days. 52 weeks. 12 months. Of holding and following a piece of paper?

Overall – resolutions, beauty or bust? Lie or lust? Stupid or super?