With the New Year in full swing, one can’t seem to avoid the subject of New Year’s resolutions.

Every year, people around the world pledge to adopt new acts of self-improvement beginning on New Year’s day.  The promise of a new year inspires some to pursue a “new me.” This “new me” can usually be characterized as a healthier, fitter, kinder, or less stressed version of oneself.  However, it seems as though adopting resolutions in the new year has become increasingly less popular, despite its deep roots within history.

The act of keeping resolutions originates from Ancient Babylon and the Romans. According to an article on History.com,  the Babylonians were some of the first to celebrate the start of the New Year. For the Babylonians, the new year began on “the first new moon following the vernal equinox [which] marked the start of a new year.” Their new year celebrations, however, didn’t consist of a countdown and watching a ball drop, but rather a massive religious festival called Akitu, derived from the Sumerian word for barley.

Later on, Julius Caesar would transform the Roman calendar. The Emperor would make January 1 the first day of the year. This, “partly in honor Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, whose two faces allowed him to look back into the past and forward into the future.” Roman festivities were some of the first to make resolutions during this time, ones with a moral flavor.

This tradition has gradually infiltrated our New Year’s celebrations, making it a typical rite when ringing in the new year.  According to “New Year’s Resolutions by the Numbers,” an article in Details, a lifetsyle magazine, 45% of Americans usually make resolutions. These are most commonly centered around weight loss, exercise programs and quitting smoking. However, 38% of people don’t make resolutions in the first place.

Both Rebecca Estrella, MBHS junior,  and Ms. Mottahedeh, one of our college advisors, are part of this 38%.

Estrella, notes that while the New Year for her, serves as “a time to reflect on the last year(s) of my life and reflect on the person I’ve become and how much closer I’ve gotten to who I want to be … we as humans could do this at any point of the year.” She also adds that, “Frankly, resolutions are ridiculous. If you really wanted to be a better that badly, you’d have done it at any point in your life, not waited until the 31st to tell yourself that you’re gonna be a brand-spanking new person in the next 24 hours.”

Ms. Mottahedeh on the other hand, objects resolutions not because of their “inherent ridiculousness,” according to Mottahedeh, but rather because she finds them unnecessary. She said, “I never make resolutions because there’s nothing I need to be doing differently. I’m perfect!”