What should your New Year’s resolution/s be?
- New Year’s resolutions are the tradition of vowing, often to one’s self, to make an improvement in one’s life.
- New Year’s resolutions are typically made on New Year’s day or New Year’s eve, and usually the goal is to achieve the resolution/s by the end of the new year.
- People from western countries are more likely to make New Year’s resolutions than those from the rest of the world.
- New Year’s resolutions have a long history, as the Ancient Babylonians of 2000 BC and the Ancient Romans had similar traditions of wanting to please their gods, so they vowed they would return items and pay back any owed money.
- Throughout history, many Christians, Catholics and Jews have made types of New Year’s resolutions, commonly with a religious or moral slant, and often at special religious-related activities, such as Lent.
- In 2007, a study was held by psychologist Richard Wiseman of Britain, of 3000 individuals, that resulted in data that showed that 88% of New Year’s resolution makers do not achieve their resolution goals.
- Popular New Year’s resolutions are those that vow to improve health, inner self, finance, education, career and stopping addictions.
- Strategies to help keep New Year’s resolutions include social support, writing them down, and setting goals or steps.
- Many New Year’s resolutions are not fulfilled due to being unachievable, imprecise or hard to complete vows.
- The most common New Year’s resolution is to achieve weight loss, however studies have shown that willpower is affected by food, and if you are not well-fed, the willpower to achieve your goals will be diminished.
Bibliography:
Dicker L, History of New Year’s Resolutions, 43 Things, http://www.43things.com/resolutions/history
New Year’s Resolution, 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_resolution
