By Brittney Bruner
Making and keeping New Year’s Resolutions can be especially difficult. However, choosing resolutions that are realistic to the life of a college student can be even more challenging.
Thought students may set lofty resolutions like losing a lot of weight, exercising for hours daily, or earning a 4.0 GPA, rarely are students able to achieve such elaborate and demanding resolutions with such a limited amount of time, a small budget and an academic and social life to maintain.
With a significant amount of pressure to live up to these unrealistic resolutions, many students can become easily stressed and quickly drop their resolutions.
Of course, it’s not that these goals are unattainable. According to Naomi Rockler-Gladen in her article ‘Student New Year’s Resolutions’ at suite101.com, the key is choosing resolutions that are a bit more practical and manageable.
“You’re much more likely to keep resolutions if they are realistic and attainable,” said Rockler-Gladen. “Pick a few relatively easy things that will make life better for you and those around you.”
Some of the more realistic suggestions Gladen included were getting an extra hour of sleep when possible, working in extra walking into your everyday routine, avoiding drama as much as possible, attending class more often, eating breakfast every day and calling your mom and dad more often.
Students at U of L have taken advantage of this approach to New Year’s Resolutions and applies them to their own annual goals.
“I usually don’t have New Year’s Resolutions because they never seem to follow through,” said Joanne Arrazola, a sophomore nursing major. “But this year I’ve actually said my New Year’s Resolution is to stay more focused and study more than last semester and hopefully get straight A’s.”
In the US News and World Report, “Professor’s Guide,” Lynn F. Jacobs and Jeremy S. Hyman also suggest some resolutions for college students that coincide with the No. 7 most popular goal for the New Year – ‘get a better education.’
Some of their ideas include taking notes the entire lecture during classes, doing all the reading before classes, going to an office a hour before each test and every paper, limiting Facebook time to at least one hour a day, never pulling all-nighters, and confining partying to the weekends.
American Psychiatric Association expert Thomas Wise, M.D. chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Inova Fairfax Hospital, shared his views on how to maintain New Year’s Resolutions at healthyminds.org.
“It is important not to abandon the idea of making resolutions for yourself because you have broken them in the past. You may need to simply adjust the type and number of goals you’re setting,” said Wise.
Wise goes on to state that “some resolutions are not realistic, others require much more effort than we acknowledged up front, and some are right on target.”
Ultimately, it is a consensus among experts and students in pursuit of resolutions alike that New Year’s Resolutions are not harmful in intent, regardless of their outcome.
“I don’t usually make New Year’s Resolutions,” said junior account major Maran McCoy.
“But I think that they can be good to start fresh in the New Year if you are dedicated enough and really want to make the changes.” said McCoy.
