Making resolutions is easy, but actually achieving those goals can be challenging.
"A new year is the start of something new," said Richard Penaskovic, area adviser for religious studies. "It would make sense for anyone--someone who is fed up with their past life, for example--to say, 'Well I'm going to make a new start, and this year I'm not going to make the same mistakes I made in the past.'"
According to www.usa.gov, some of the most popular New Year's Resolutions include drinking less alcohol, losing weight, managing debt and quitting smoking.
"I think it's just the hope of making changes," said Jennifer Daniels, adjunct professor of psychology.
Change doesn't always come easy, though.
"A lot of people say, 'I'm getting too heavy; I need to work out; I need to go to the gym,'" Penaskovic said. "I work out at the health fitness center. You'll notice that it'll be filled in January, and then it will start falling off in February or March."
The practice of not keeping New Year's Resolutions is probably as common as making them.
"What happens is, at Christmastime we're full--people eat too much, they drink too much, they smoke too much, they don't sleep enough, they put off exercise, and so they're not doing all those good behavioral changes," Daniels said.
"So when we're in that mode, we can say, 'We'll do it.' But once we stop doing all those things, our body craves those things. So it doesn't tend to last very long."
All hope is not lost, however. There are different ways to ensure that this year's plans for "a better you" are successful.
"Set attainable goals," Daniels said. "Any behavioral change is difficult, so expect to mess up, but don't give up. If you mess up and go back to old behaviors once, it doesn't mean that you have failed at the program."
Barbara Struempler, extension nutritionist and professor of nutrition and dietetics, suggested that people often set unrealistic goals for achieving their health and weight loss objectives.
"Like, 'I'm going to lose ten pounds the month of January,'" Struempler said. "If you lose ten pounds in the month of January, most of it's water, and you didn't eat a thing all month, and you're not going to survive like that."
Rather than setting overly ambitious, unachievable goals, Struempler said people should focus on eating in moderation and adding more exercise to their lives, as well as seeing it as a lifestyle change.
"The easiest thing to do is to do it short-term," Struempler said. "But the hardest thing to do is to maintain all these habits that you'd like to have."
Reframing one's resolution and looking at it in a positive light is another solution Daniels said can be effective.
"Instead of saying, 'Well, I can't eat, I'm going to diet. I'm going to lose fifteen pounds,' say, 'I'm going to eat healthy. I'm going to choose goods foods,'" Daniels said. "If your body is craving cigarettes, instead of saying, 'Oh, I want a cigarette,' you can change the way that you think about it and say, 'This is my body getting rid of the carcinogens.'"
Penaskovic said to achieve whatever goal you set, you have to break the routines to which you are already accustomed.
"I'd say about 95 percent of our lives is based on habit," Penaskovic said. "It's hard to break old habits. Habits become part of us, and we don't realize it. We're not conscious of it."
Auburn students have differing opinions on the value of New Year's Resolutions for breaking those old habits.
"I consciously make the decision to not make New Year's Resolutions," said Will Hodges, junior in computer engineering. "Most people, if they're going to make a resolution at the new year, it's probably going to be less likely to succeed than a resolution that they made on their own, outside of peer pressure and social conformity and whatnot."
There are others who subscribe to this same philosophy.
"I just got to the point where I quit keeping them," said Breanna Heard-Pinho, freshman in pre-med, who also didn't make any New Year's Resolutions. "At different times of the year, you can make small goals instead of saying, 'Oh, from January to December I'm going to do this, this and this."
Other students, however, think New Year's resolutions can be an effective way to make changes.
"I think it's a good concept for people to have," said Colton Stinson, junior in mechanical engineering. "You can get a fresh start to the year and have a goal to shoot for."
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