Mackenzie Thomas
New Year’s resolutions are one of the most popular holiday traditions as many hope to better themselves within the upcoming year.
The practice of creating New Year’s resolutions dates back to over 4,000 years ago, and many people still make them today.
“The idea here is that we tend to look at events such as the new year, our birthdays and other significant events and anniversaries as a chance to reflect, reboot and reprioritise,” said James Arvanitakis, a visiting professor at the University of Wyoming School of Politics, Public Affairs and International Studies.
Early civilizations like the Babylonians and the Ancient Romans are said to have started up the tradition. The Babylonian version of the tradition was to make a promise to their gods, in order to keep favor. These promises could be anything from returning a borrowed item to paying off all debt within the new year, and if their promise was not kept they would fall out of favor with the specific god they made their promise to.
The ancient Romans would instead offer sacrifices to the deity Janus, the god of beginnings and doorways, for their New Year’s resolutions. These sacrifices were seen as a way to make a promise of good behavior within the upcoming year as it was said that Janus was looking forward, into their future years.
Alongside the ancient Romans and the Babylonians, early Christians also celebrated New Year’s resolutions. John Wesley, the founder of methodism, created the Covenant Renewal Service in 1740 as an opportunity for attendees to reflect upon the past year and look forward to the upcoming year. This practice is now popular within Evangelical Protestant churches and includes singing hymns and reading scripture in order to celebrate the new year.
Nowadays, New Year’s resolutions are seen as a more secular practice. For the majority of people, New Year’s resolutions are goals they wish to obtain within the upcoming year or a saying they wish to live by for the new year.
“Our culture really does believe in new beginnings: many of our fairytales look at such things and modern day Hollywood and Netflix focus their stories on these,” Arvanitakis said.
Kyla Baldridge, a student at UW, had a rather philosophical approach to her New Year’s Resolution heading into 2019.
“My resolution was to ‘choose happy’ and take advantage of all that life had to offer. I think I followed through by making the most out of every situation and opportunity,” she said.
By following this resolution, Baldridge was able to travel abroad in Africa in order to learn technical skills for her degree, in order to get the most out of her opportunity to travel overseas.
Looking into the upcoming year, many UW students have already thought of New Year’s resolutions for themselves. These New Year’s resolutions range from bettering themselves mentally to bettering themselves physically.
Some students, like Elizabeth Ours, chose to focus on bettering themselves academically.
“My New Year’s Resolution is to act upon new study habits, to study longer and go more in depth on information learned in class,” said Ours.
“Mine is the cliche resolution of getting in better shape and going to the gym, but also balancing a job and challenging classes,” said student Melanie Caylor. Caylor said she hopes to accomplish this resolution in 2020 by getting up early and going to the gym before her classes begin for the day.
Overall, most students wish to better themselves on one level or another. Whether it be physically or academically, they each have an individual approach to setting a goal for the upcoming year.
As 2020 begins a new decade, it will also begin a time of change for many wishing to better themselves by setting New Year’s Resolutions.
