Are You Resolute?

Avery Walker
Kappa Kappa Gamma

As New Year's Eve fades at the stroke of midnight, Americans everywhere toast to the New Year and soak in their last bit of leisure before New Year's Day.

There is something to be said about new beginnings, turning over a new leaf, and fresh starts. We all need time to renew and some motivation to set new goals. Unfortunately I am not someone who is good at making resolutions. It isn’t that I am not a go-getter; in fact I like setting goals for myself. However, when I do set goals I am determined to succeed. In other words, I don’t like resolutions because I don’t want to start my year not living up to my own expectations.

America probably feels the same way I do. The number one New Year’s resolution in America, as you can guess, is to lose weight. My father, an avid exerciser, always complains during the month of January about how crowded the gym becomes. By April, when spring break has passed and people have fallen off their new routine, the gym slows down again.

Other popular resolutions include to stop smoking and to travel more. The bottom line is that long-term goals are difficult to meet. But I also believe in the benefit of pushing oneself to achieve higher. So, for my first change I will work on being on time. I grew up in a household where being early was on time and being on time was late. Somehow this pushed me into a downward spiral of wanting to be late to things. However, my “casually late” status has taken a turn for the worse, and I’m now a straggler at group gatherings. This is the only resolution I have so far, but I’ll be working on it. After all, resolutions should be a yearlong project so I’ll keep adding to the list.

Below are some inspirations to kick-start your goals. As T.S. Eliot once wrote, “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”