How Goshen County students plan to save New Year’s Resolution from failing – again

GOSHEN COUNTY – The start of a new year signifies a new beginning – and for those optimistic enough – a New Year’s Resolution.

The three most common aspirations for this year are to eat healthier, get more exercise, and save more money. But almost one-third of the population said they would not be bothering with any resolutions at all this year.
That might be the most realistic resolution yet, as many people fail to fulfill their resolutions, with only 8 percent of Americans managing to follow through on their resolutions.
Whether it may be setting goals that are too ambitious or too restrictive, people cannot seem to stick to their resolutions, easily getting derailed by small failures. Shooting for the moon is not always such a bad thing when making New Year’s Resolutions. When they become too unrealistic, though, people are practically being “set-up” for failure.
When it comes to health goals, these unrealistic expectations do not leave a person with any wiggle room for failure. For example, a person cannot just merely say they will quit sugar when they have not made even the slightest of changes to improve their diet.
This does not mean that all New Year’s Resolutions are destined for failure. The smaller the lifestyle change, the greater the chance for success. Downsizing the scope of a New Year’s aspiration could mean the difference between giving up in February and creating a lifelong habit change.
But limiting the size of a resolution is easier said than done. Taking advice from the youth of our area, here’s how the student body of Goshen County plans to make – and keep – their New Year’s Resolutions this year.
While New Year’s Resolutions teenagers make can be drastically different from an adult’s, both have common goals: to enable a lifestyle change. An adult’s New Year’s Resolution may be to quit drinking or smoking. A teenager would be less likely to create that type of resolution, as they have not acquired as much of an addiction to alcohol or cigarettes. Teenager are more likely develop aspirations that would make them a better citizen.
“My New Year’s Resolution is to drink more water,” a Goshen County student said. “However, I do not want to become a threat to the environment by littering the planet with plastic water bottles. So, in addition to drinking more water, I plan on using reusable water bottles more often than plastic ones, as an attempt to make the world a cleaner, healthier place.”
As many teenagers are glued to technology, one student believed the best resolution for him to try to accomplish would be to limit his screen time, rather than getting rid of it altogether.
“Instead of playing video games for 14 hours a day, my New Year’s Resolution is to dedicate at least a few hours a week to something that does not involve a screen,” the student said. “Perhaps with all this new-found free time, I can take up a new hobby, like playing an instrument or a sport, besides playing video games all the time.”
Going hand-in-hand with the previous student’s resolution, this student wants to become more physically active as well, a popular resolution amongst individuals of all ages in America.
“My resolution is to take this New Year’s outdoors,” the student said. “That way it gives me an excuse to go hunting and fishing more. This could also mean that I can spend more time with my friends and family, and less time sitting indoors like a couch potato.”
The most extravagant of all the resolutions that was made by the students of Goshen County was seen from their desire to face a fear.
The most frequent resolution revolved around battling fears. From killing spiders to competing in speaking events, everyone is afraid of something. Pushing new limits and facing fears is a common goal.
“I want to do one thing every day in the New Year that scares me,” one ambitious student said. “The only way to get over a fear is to face it.”
While trying something new is not always the easiest battle, opening our minds for the greater well-being of our lives is worth the challenge a New Year’s Resolution presents.
But why wait until a New Year? Follow the example of high school students to develop better habits daily and get on the track to changing lives for
the better.