“I’m gonna start being a better person – this year.”

Famous words. Everybody has heard them before, especially on New Year’s Eve.

New Year’s Resolutions are probably as old as mankind itself. They show our desire for change, beginning with a new year.

And it’s true – isn’t the first of January a great day to start something new? An easy day to remember?

It doesn’t matter if you are young or only young at heart – everybody can make and sustain New Year’s Resolutions. But how many people see this time of the year as a chance to grow and how many just laugh about fools who start every year with the same old intentions?

“I think [resolutions] are a waste of time, and no one really accomplishes anything anyways,” senior Lyndi Martin said.

And she speaks from experience; Martin made New Year’s Resolutions, to eat healthier, work out more and eat leass fast food. How long did she last?

“Not even a day.”

 “I personally think that New Year’s Resolutions can help you get better, to improve your lifestyle,” freshman Tyler Ziemann said. “[I want to] try harder in everything I do. To give always 100 percent.”

He  sustained his goals for at least a few months, but how did he do it?
Zieman said he shared them with family and friends to build support.
“I told my family, but some of them are just personal; I keep them within myself,” Ziemann said.

Other people like to keep their resolutions a secret.

 “I didn’t share it because other people would have called me gay,” senior Chris Oballe said.

“To be more outgoing and nicer to people” is his first New Years Resolution ever. But why this year?
“This is my first year to make a resolution at all. I hope it goes well. I’m a man now. I’m 18. I’m about to inherit the family business,” Oballe said.

Most people don’t sustain their resolution for more than a few months.

Of course there are exceptions.

“One year I resolved to drink a glass of milk a day. I did it. It was in second grade,” senior Nathaniel Lane said.

How did he accomplish that?

“Focus. Like if I do bad, slap myself in the face. Start a revolution. It’s only a real victory if you do it by yourself,” Lane said. This year he’s off to be more optimistic – “because stupid stuff gets you down. Being optimistic helps you being happy.”

And isn’t that something we all should be occasionally?

It only remains for me to add that New Years Resolutions are a good thing to make, if you have the right personality and strength to sustain them.