“Three… two… one… Happy New Year!”
Every year, we look forward to January 1st; a day that brings fireworks, and most importantly, a New Year’s resolution list. It’s a tradition as old as time – seriously, the Babylonians used to make them! – and it’s one that feels like a fresh start, a blank canvas where we can create anything we want to. Our lists are filled with promises, mostly ones to improve our lifestyle.
But why do we feel such a strong urge to reinvent ourselves at the start of a new year? To understand this, let’s travel back in time. The practice of New Year’s resolutions stretches back thousands of years – 4,000 to be exact – to the ancient Babylonians who celebrated New Year’s in mid-March, during the festival of Akitu. For them, their New Year’s resolutions consisted of promises to the Gods to repay their debts. Meanwhile in Ancient Rome, New Year’s took place on the first of January. Similarly, Romans also made resolutions, including promises to be a better person. It’s fascinating to see how something that developed such a long time ago continues to be widely practiced today.
Even though the reasons for resolutions have shifted, the principle remains the same: we feel the desire to change. While talking about New Year’s with my friends Gabriela Tejeda ’26 and Angeline Rivera ’26, I found that they also felt a similar pull towards change around New Year’s. It’s a moment to reflect, to ask yourself, “Am I where I want to be?”
Tejeda describes the new year as “an incentive to progress and change something or experience something new.” For her, the passing of time creates a sense of urgency, which reminds us that we only get to live once, and in her words, “lose the opportunity to be the same age that we are.”
While Tejeda’s drive to reinvent herself is fueled by time and urgency, Rivera’s perspective centers more around renewal. She views the new year as a fresh start, stating that “the old year is in the past, and regardless of what happened, this year is like a blank page, ready for me to change anything I wanted to about myself.” She emphasizes that her desire to change comes from internal motivations, rather than societal pressures.
However, this motivation doesn’t always last. Every year, I find myself saying “near year, new me” as I make a list of resolutions that I most likely won’t stick to. According to reporter Alex Williams with the New York Times, “80 percent of people who make resolutions on January 1st fall off the wagon by Valentine’s Day.” Well, why is that? After continuing to talk to Tejeda and Rivera, I noticed that they both ran into the same problem.
“Usually, procrastination will get in the way of my resolutions. I’ll tell myself I want to meditate daily or be more on top of my skincare, but laziness gets the best of me,” Rivera said. Her experience reflects a familiar reality for many people, where the desire to improve is genuine, but daily routines and distractions slowly push those goals aside as the year goes on. Tejeda shares a similar structure. She says that procrastination, as well as personal responsibilities and school, often gets in the way of her goals, even if the motivation is there.
Psychologists say that this cycle is common among those who write New Year’s resolutions. According to Kyle Davies, an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society, in an article that he published in Psychology Today, “specific dates, such as New Year’s Day or our birthdays, serve as ‘temporal landmarks’ that create a psychological boundary between past and future — a metaphorical opportunity to wipe the slate clean.”
This mentality explains why so many resolutions begin with confidence but end in disappointment. The optimism that comes with a new year can make goals feel more achievable than they actually are, causing people to overestimate how much they can change in a short amount of time. When progress doesn’t happen immediately, frustration sets in, and many people abandon their resolutions altogether.
Additionally, this pattern continues because of the pressure to constantly improve. Every January, messages encouraging self-improvement flood social media, advertisements, and everyday conversations. From fitness challenges to productivity routines, the new year becomes associated with transformation. Even when resolutions are rooted in personal reflection, it is difficult to ignore the broader cultural expectation that a new year requires a “better” version of yourself.
Tejeda said, “While the desire to reinvent myself mainly comes from personal reflection, I think it also comes from societal pressure at the root. I say this because lack of improvement causes me to feel like an idler, and it comes from the fact that throughout my life I have always been compared to what I could be or what my parents are, and I have the desire to be that.”
Tejeda’s statement highlights how deeply ingrained the idea of constant growth has become. When improvement is seen as a requirement rather than a choice, not changing can feel like failure. This is where the excitement of reinvention can slowly turn into pressure. Instead of asking what would genuinely make us happier or more fulfilled, we often ask what we should be doing to appear more productive or successful.
However, not everyone has a desire to change because of society. Rivera said, “For me, I don’t really feel a societal pressure to improve because I have no intention to improve for anyone but myself.”
Whether the motivation is internal or external, the challenge of follow through remains. Even when goals are deeply personal, they still require consistency, discipline, and time, which can be difficult to maintain once the excitement of the new year fades. Motivation may spark the desire to change, but it is rarely enough to sustain it on its own.
Issues lie in how people structure their goals. Many New Year’s resolutions are broad and idealistic, leaving little room for practical action. Wanting to “be better” or “improve yourself” sounds meaningful, but without a clear plan, those goals can feel overwhelming. When progress is hard to measure, it becomes easier to lose focus and give up altogether. This lack of structure makes procrastination even more tempting, especially when everyday responsibilities take priority.
Even with all the obstacles, there is something quietly powerful about New Year’s resolutions. They capture a moment when we pause and look at our lives with a little more clarity. The new year becomes a mirror reflecting our hopes, regrets, and ambitions. It’s not the resolutions themselves that matter most, but the intention behind them and the willingness to examine who we are and who we want to become.
At the end of the day, the new year doesn’t guarantee success or instant transformation, but it offers the chance to try again, to take small steps, and to notice what matters to us. On some days, that change will feel like a leap, on other days, like a small step, but every choice builds on the last. The spark of January first fades quickly, but the awareness it brings can linger, guiding us quietly through the year. Reinvention is not a single moment of triumph; it’s a slow, unfolding journey marked by persistence, reflection, and the courage to start over when we need to.
Even with all the obstacles, there is something quietly powerful about New Year’s resolutions. They capture a moment when we pause and look at our lives with a little more clarity