Every new year, social media fills with people showing their new year resolutions and how they are going to better themselves in the incoming year. All these resolutions have the same general theme: get in shape, eat better, read more, etc. But it seems people usually give up on these goals to better themselves about two months into the year, saying it was too difficult to make a change. To avoid this scenario for myself, I plan to avoid these generic resolutions and instead make smaller, more attainable goals that relate to me as a person and what I believe in.

A couple years ago, when I lived in a coastal town in California, I began to become hyper aware of the environment problems. I wanted to make a change to better our environment but all the ideas to help the environment were intensive and hard to do in the area where I lived. So, I made smaller changes instead. For example, I began to recycle all my plastic and canned goods by dropping them off at a local recycling center to make sure that they did in fact get recycled instead of being thrown in a landfill. I also became vegetarian and still am. Because I learned about the treatment of animals in mass farming and also about the greenhouse gas emissions livestock put into our environment. 

By making resolutions that relate to me personally, I am able to achieve them to my full capacity. Many individuals make unattainable resolutions in an effort to better themselves. I believe this is due to social media pressuring individuals to always become better, and to constantly improve. Now, many of the big goals that individuals set for themselves are eventually attainable, but they take many smaller steps in between to finally make the big change. For instance, if someone is making a goal to drink less caffeine they shouldn’t just cut out all caffeine immediately on January 1st. If they do that, they are more likely to fail this goal and begin drinking caffeine again. Instead, they should make a goal such as: one caffeinated beverage a day, or a goal of only drinking 135 mg of caffeine each day. By doing this, they are more likely to achieve their resolution.

In a society where individuals are always pressured to be better than they are, it is important to take a step back and plan your goals according to what you believe in. By making these goals in line with what you believe in, you’re able to achieve many things, in a timely manner that does not stress you out.

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the HiLite staff. Reach Kate Loper at [email protected].