Often times when people create New Year’s resolutions, they have a list of goals set to improve themselves. Whether it’s change their old ways or promoting better eating habits. As the idea of change becomes less exciting, it is easy to put these desires on the back burner or say ‘maybe next time’, though every day gone without commitment is a wasted. As December comes to a close and January rounds the corner, people that form resolutions are deterring from failure and forming new ways to change or not attempting them at all.

Students and faculty of Lake Ridge High school are aware of the many challenges that can be faced in keeping New Year’s resolutions in high priority. Teachers, in specific, hear of many impractical goals in the fresh of the year. Monique Fradieu, Debate teacher, explains why the most unrealistic resolutions fall through because people do not allow enough time for change.

“People resolving to lose a lot of weight in the first month is unrealistic. They don’t give themselves enough time to actually fulfill the resolution. This is because a lot of people are not disciplined and people are all excited on New Year’s about doing something new, but then the reality of life hits and then it kinda fades,” Fradieu says.

The tradition of New Year’s Resolutions originated from ancient Babylonians who made promises in order to earn the favor of the gods and start the new year off on the right foot. In modern days, people inhabit the same idea, yet resolutions are more for themselves rather than others now. Fradieu believes that getting out of your old ways takes accomodating to time.

“New habits can be formed at any time of the year, I think the key to a habit is consistency. I think most people don’t keep it up and turn their resolution into a habit because they don’t do it long enough. It takes 21 days to form a habit and some people just don’t last that long,” said Fradieu.

Fitness Companies such as 24 Hour Fitness, Planet Fitness, and Life Time Fitness seize the opportunity of the yearly tradition by advertising gym memberships as people bring in the New Year.

“They know that most people who buy gym memberships probably stop coming after three months. Everyone is excited and they definitely take advantage,” Fradieu states.

Celebrities, who have a large fan base, post their New Year’s Resolutions online or are blasted on news outlets for losing a desired amount of weight or any other recent achievement. AP World History teacher, Jennifer Swegler, feels the average person should not hold themselves to the same standard because everyone is not under the same circumstances.

“Every year you hear that this person resolved to lose a hundred plus pounds. While it’s great that person did it, if you often look at their schedule its unobtainable to the other 98% of people who are also trying to lose weight. Those people have jobs that may not require tons of work,” Swegler says.

Often times, the extensive duties of an Advanced Placement teacher, such as Swegler, it is hard to make ends meet when it comes to achieving desired goals. This constantly demanding profession gets in the way of her resolutions.

“As a school teacher there is no way I could actually resolve to lose that much weight because my job relies on doing stuff before and after school, on the weekends, grading and lesson planning. No way would I be able to put in as much gym time as they do and still be able to do my job at the level I do my job. While those are inspiring stories, there’s also the realism of  have a family or I have children that I have to take care of. What are you going to sacrifice in order to achieve that goal of weight loss,” says Swegler.

There are many obstacles that people face going down the road of change. When forming New Year’s resolutions it is imperative to keep a consicious mindset of what you can accomplish at a small scale. Demesha Keeler, sophomore, says that in JROTC her senior Army instructor gave students time to reflect and that she formed resolutions that she could tackle anytime of year.

“First sergeant let everyone put their heads down and think about what they wanted their 2018 year to be like. From school to our personal life I thought of many things I want to change and get better at,” Keeler said.