With 2017 here, many of us have chosen to change something about our lives. Whether that be to do with your personality or your physical health, we most commonly tell ourselves, ‘new year, new me!’.
At the top of the list of 2017’s New Year’s resolutions, lies losing weight or healthier eating. After the masses of Christmas food, 21.4% of people ranked this as their main resolution. In fact, in Britain, it has been recorded that over the Christmas period, the average person is likely to gain between 1.1lbs - 5lbs. Therefore, it’s not surprising that this is at the top of our lists!
Second on the list is self improvement with 12.3% of people claiming that this is an area in which that would like to change. Already this year, I have heard a number of different people expressing their desire to have a more positive outlook on life and to treat others with more respect.
Research has found that around 40% of people, aged 30 and under, achieve their resolutions each year whilst 16.3% of those over 50 also achieve theirs. It has been made apparent that as we get older, we tend to break our resolutions quicker. This may be as a result of time, fitness or other factors. Studies also show that it takes at least 30 days to change a habit. Following this data, I decided to interview Liz Wiltshire, 50, and Tasha Folan, 14.
Liz Wiltshire is a primary school teacher, who is also a mother of three. When asking her if she’d set any New Year’s resolutions for 2017, she explained that it is her main aim to lose weight and to get fitter. Although it is only the very start of the year, she also explained that, ‘it has been quite successful so far with classes at the gym booked, but it hasn’t quite taken off yet because I have been very busy changing my daily schedule after the Christmas break’. It became my interest to know whether Wiltshire sets herself resolutions throughout the year or just in January. I found that she thought that January was a good time to reassess and a good time to look back over the past year and change a bad habit. Personally, therefore, Wiltshire tends to just set resolutions at the beginning of the year. Is this something you could change?
When interviewing Tasha Folan, a student, I found that several of her goals were also physical. For example, she explained that, ‘I have set some resolutions such as learning some moves in trampolining and to the the splits’. I then asked her if this has been successful so far and she responded with, ‘I know these are things that won’t come instantly so I have been working on that where possible’. Other resolutions that Folan set included, healthier eating and staying on top of assigned work. In 2016, Folan was very disciplined with her meals so it was interesting to hear that she still wants to pursue an even healthier diet. When discussing the benefits of resolutions, Folan found that ‘they really help because at the end of the year I can review what kind of person I want to be at the end of the following year, see what I don’t like about my life and what I can do to change it’. Finally, Folan was asked how often she sets resolutions and goals. She stated, ‘I try to set them for the whole year but, if it is a specific thing, I may complete it before December. If it’s something else, I may find it too hard to stick to or no longer something I want to work towards’.
Overall, it is clear that health is a focal point when making resolutions. Resolutions are generally made over the New Year and can take up a lot of our time. Ways to make sure that resolutions are fulfilled include: limiting your list to a number you can handle, being prepared to change some habits, writing down your goal and visualising it regularly. As a human being, you have an effect on the people around you every day- how can you change your lifestyle to help others for the better? At the same time, however, you need to feel comfortable with yourself. So, how can you change your lifestyle to help yourself for the better?
Olivia Wiltshire
Langley Park School for Girls
