Article by Phoenix writer Kevin Kirley ’25:
The week between Christmas and New Year’s is full of the post Christmas blues and leftover-induced stomach aches. It is usually here where the mob of people in the world wander aimlessly around their homes, probably asking themselves what day it is for the fourth day in a row. But as the calendar turns into a new year, a mammoth of a question clouds everyone’s minds: “What’s my New Year’s resolution?”
And to that I ask: Why do we do this to ourselves year after year?
I’ve always found the “New Year, New Me” slogan shallow and unhelpful, bordering on harmful. A ridiculously toxic, pressuring, and anxiety-inducing message portraying the “New Year” as the complete shift in your life that you’ve been waiting for. Now that the calendar year has increased by one digit and a big, shiny ball dropped in Times Square, suddenly, life will change for the better in an instant? This illogical phrase, which started off as a marketing tactic during the 80s, stating that “reinventing yourself” only involved making a few purchases, is not only dumb, but downright cruel too.
In our world today, resolutions have become soulless traditions, chock-full of empty promises and self-pressuring. We put immense pressure on ourselves to pick life-altering goals, tie it to the date of January 1st, and expect complete transformation overnight. This way of thinking is naive and illogical, with the fact that choosing a single day to completely revamp your life and become a better version of yourself is ridiculous, perfectly explaining why I think resolutions are so–dumb.
The truth is: big changes take time. The most popular resolutions—losing weight, improving mental health, quitting an addiction—require slow, deliberate efforts to achieve. They are complete lifestyle shifts that absolutely can’t be changed overnight and won’t be miraculously conquered once the clock strikes twelve to bring us into a new year. Starting January 1st with the expectation of immediate success is setting you up for failure, and leads many hopeful humans down a long path of disappointment and self-worth issues. Most will likely give up in a few days, and what happens when that inevitably occurs? You’re left with a false narrative that you’ve “ruined the year” before it’s even started.
The moral of the story is that real change requires an ongoing process and the most important thing: time. This is why I urge us all to ditch the flawed resolutions for–EVOLUTIONS!
New Year’s “evolutions” are meant to focus on the small and slow productive steps we can take to become a better version of ourselves. It is not an immediate switch—it is an ongoing process full of gradual and meaningful change set out to lead us to our own personal growth. If our goal is to exercise more, we don’t need to run a marathon by the end of January; instead, take a walk around the block or spend 15 minutes a day on the treadmill. Evolutions focus on the small steps, not so much the huge leaps.
The beauty of evolutions lies in what they focus on and put emphasis on. While resolutions are very results driven, like losing a number of pounds or getting a promotion, evolutions focus more on the process. Examples of this can include building healthier habits or learning new skills and hobbies. Change is never a “simple fix”, and when we put the focus on the results rather than the process, we are essentially setting ourselves up for disappointment and failure if goals are not achieved.
As the new year begins, let go of resolutions, and focus on evolutions: in other words, self-compassion rather than punishment. Putting personal growth on a more gradual and sustainable path will be much more effective than a few shallow and empty resolutions. Maybe it’s not about completely reinventing the self every time January rolls around. Maybe it’s about evolving into a better version of us bit by bit, and day by day.
Scrapping the “New Year, New Me” manipulative slogan would be beneficial to society as a whole. The new year doesn’t and shouldn’t create a new self. It should create a person, aware of their flaws and imperfections, destined to improve on things–at their own pace. Focus on progress over results. Evolving over resolving.
But what do I know?