With the New Year coming and everyone settling in, some people decide to change up their lives for the better. The idea of New Year’s resolutions isn’t new. In fact, Researchers have found that the ancient Babylonians were some of the first people to have New Year’s resolutions and were the first recorded to hold celebrations in honor of the New Year, although not in January but in mid-March when the crops were planted.
In an article at The History Channel written by Sarah Pruitt, talks about how people have been practicing resolutions. In ancient Rome, after Julius Caesar reformed the calendar and established January 1st was the beginning of the year in 46 B.C. January had a special significance to the Romans, as it was named after the Roman god Janus, the god whose spirit inhabited doorways and archways. It was so important to them because they believed that Janus symbolically looked back on the previous year and ahead into the future. Because they believe in this, they would offer sacrifices to the deity and make promises of good conduct in the next year. For early Christians, the first day of the new year became a traditional occasion for thinking about one’s earlier mistakes and resolving to do and be better in the coming future. In 1740, the English clergyman John Wesley, who founded Methodism, created the Covenant Renewal Service, which is most commonly held on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. Also known as night watch services, they would include reading from scriptures and hymn singing and served as a spiritual alternative to other celebrations being held.
In another article by Forbes Magazine written by Tracy Brower, PhD, it talks about some other reasons for making New Year’s resolutions: the intentions behind the resolution, the responsibility, or just being inspired to create a resolution. Everyone can have different intentions when it comes to making resolutions. Maybe you want to eat healthier, maybe you want to work harder at your job, maybe you want to go on three big trips this year, and the list goes on. However, it all depends on your intentions, and what you intend to accomplish. If you resolve is that you want to eat healthier, at the end of the year, you might achieve better health or even weight loss or weight gain. If you resolved to work harder at your job, what you accomplish at the end of the year might be that you worked more hours, you got a promotion, or you were able to make more money. Lastly, if you want to travel three times, you would have accomplished going to three new destinations, trying new food, meeting new people, and maybe finding new hobbies that you enjoy. Another reason some people create resolutions is to have more responsibility in their lives. Someone who might want more responsibility might have a resolution like completing all of their work without any of it being late or trying to save up enough money to buy your first car. These resolutions can give someone the feeling that they are responsible and if they mess up, they would know it’s their responsibility to fix it. Finally, someone can create a New Year’s resolution simply because they felt inspired to do so. Someone could see online that someone they follow ran a marathon and they feel inspired to do so. This is an example of someone simply being inspired to create a resolution because they wanted to.
One last article at Good Housekeeping, written by Zee Kristic and Cameron Jenkins, it gives a list of resolution ideas that they feel are achievable. In the article, they believe that some resolutions, including making time for your family, being more mindful, reading more books, planning a vacation, or even relaxing are manageable and achievable in the year to come. Most of these resolutions are good, such as reading more books or making time for your family, however, I encourage you to oblige with some resolutions such as drinking more water, planning annual health screenings, getting rid of toxic relationships, and staying caught up with the news around you as much as possible.
Next year, when the time comes for everyone to create brand new New Year’s resolutions, hopefully, this article will give you some ideas on how to come up with a new one.
