Fireworks, parties, the new years kiss, and hangovers. All staples of the New Years celebration. The phrase “new year, new me”, while being one of the most overused sentences in history, really exemplifies the attitude of improvement people try to have going into the new year. New Year’s resolutions are an easy way to get the ball rolling by arbitrarily setting a date to start your improvement journey on. Seriously, what’s stopping you from setting a St. Patrick Day or Labor Day resolution?
The origins of New Year’s resolutions date back thousands of years beginning with the ancient Babylonians. In celebration of the new year, they would hold a twelve-day-long festival known as “Akitu”, in which they vowed their loyalty to the king and made promises to their gods. While a lot more ambitious than what we celebrate today, later iterations toned down the energy. In a diary entry written by Anne Halkett in 1671 titled “Resolutions”, she writes a list of promises, mostly quotes from the Bible, hinting at the tradition the future would maintain.
In the big two six, we’re a lot less celebratory about our resolutions. Most people set one or two goals they have for the year, ranging from something small like drinking more water to hitting a milestone like finishing a degree. After interviewing a ton of students, the most interesting resolution by far was from Tyler Blankman; “My New Year’s resolution is to spend less than $250 on Snap-on tools […] last year I spent at least $200 dollars on ratchets last year, and I’d rather not do that. There’s a good chance I’m not gonna follow through with it though.” It really shows how far resolutions have come.
While we aren’t very excited about the planting of new crops anymore (which is what older New Year’s celebrations were typically about), we still use the new year as a starting point to improving ourselves in any way we can. True, there is nothing stopping you from setting a resolution on literally any day of the year. But the collective “new year, new me” attitude we have on January 1st helps start what you might have been unable to start on your own.
