The history behind New Year’s resolutions

Even before Christmas celebrations were ended and all the leftover were gone, advertisements were already running to help smokers achieve their New Year’s resolutions to stop smoking. Gyms across the nation aired television commercials aiming to make people realize that soon they would have to shed those sweatpants with the forgiving waistband and get back into their regular wardrobe.
    When there were no more presents to open and all the cookies were gone, some students began to prepare for the new year with fresh motivation to fulfill their resolutions for 2007, while others simply prepared to head back to class.
    The concept of the New Year’s resolution is not new. According to an article on the Kansas City Public Library website, the tradition of the New Year’s resolution was created by the Babylonians 4,000 years ago. The first day of the year for this ancient civilization was March 23 and one of its popular resolutions was to return something borrowed from a friend during the previous year.
    The Romans celebrated the New Year on Jan. 1 and shared a similar tradition with the Babylonians. A common resolution in ancient Rome was to ask forgiveness from enemies of the past year. The Chinese New Year has been celebrated for thousands of years as well. Their New Year is somewhere between late January and early February, one of their resolution customs is housecleaning, which tops many modern-day New Year’s resolution lists. Whether or not these civilizations took their resolutions seriously and always achieved what they resolved to do is unknown. Today many resolutions are made with the best intentions, but the majority are not actually met.
    “The reason a lot of people do not achieve their resolutions is poor planning,” said Mary Jane Phillips, director of Counseling Services at GCSU. “They say ‘I am going to lose 10 pounds and I am going to do it by exercise and eating right.’ Well it is not usually that simple. How are you going to exercise? How do you go about eating right? There are plenty of studies that give the best way to go about doing both of those things. For example, studies have shown that having a partner when exercising helps to keep both motivated and has shown the most promising results.”
    Many who made resolutions for 2007, most likely could be grouped into the same categories that have become popular over the years. The most common resolutions concern: exercising and nutrition, improving financial situations, and relationships with friends, family or a significant other. But according to Phillips, making a resolution that is more specific to the individual and their lifestyle is a good alternative to the more general resolutions.
    “I think the student should really visualize or personalize their resolution,” Phillips said. “They should really think about what they want in life and then make those small steps to get closer to the goals they have set.”
    Danielle Duvall, a sophomore marketing major, admitted that most of her New Year’s resolutions in the past pertained to weight loss, but this year she had a more specific goal in mind.
    “My resolution this year is to become semi-fluent in the Spanish language, because my minor is Spanish,” Duvall said. “I am not really worried about losing weight this year.”
    Students with specific goals in mind, like Duvall, enjoy the idea of beginning a new year with a resolution to achieve, while other students don’t think having a New Year’s resolution is necessary.
    Stephen Houser, senior English major didn’t make a New Year’s resolution this year and he doesn’t think the majority of people who make resolutions actually take them seriously.
“If everyone actually did what they resolved to do, the world would be a much different place than it is now,” Houser said.
    Whether or not students made a New Year’s resolution for 2007, it is the opportunity for a fresh start and renewed motivation. The Romans named the month of January after Janus, a mythical figure who represented beginnings and endings and his two faces allowed him to look backwards and forwards in time. Some people make New Year’s resolutions and others do not, either way if someone is looking for a fresh start in some area of their lives, the new year provides a great opportunity to do so.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 19 2007. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry