I Hate New Year’s Resolutions

New year, new blog!

I’m back. When my professor, Gary Kayye, told my Branding of Me class at the beginning of the fall semester that some of us would choose to continue blogging after it was no longer a class requirement, I truly didn’t believe him.

When I first started posting these blogs I was honestly embarrassed. I didn’t see a world where people would choose to take time out of their busy days to read my thoughts and opinions.

However, that quickly changed much to both my surprise and my delight. Whether it was my parents or roommate who insisted I send them every blog the second it was posted, or a long-distance friend texting me that she resonated with my blog, Tick, Tick, Boom, so much that she used it as an article reference in a class assignment, knowing that people were taking time out of their days to hear what I had to say meant the world.

Writing these blogs about everything from graduating college to a Goldfish PR stunt became therapeutic. Hearing from others that I made them feel seen was simply the cherry on top. And so, I am back to share my latest rant - this time about something we are all probably sick of hearing about by now.

New Year’s resolutions.

I hate them. Growing up my mom always said, “If you really wanted to make a change you’d do it now instead of waiting for a new year.”

She’s got a point. While I do like the idea of a fresh start and chasing goals, I’m not sure that when the clock strikes midnight on January 1st is truly the time to start.

Let’s face it. Most people are not feeling their best on the first morning of January. Whether a headache from too much champagne or an emotional hangover, feeling lame about their own NYE plans while scrolling through everyone else’s on social media, it’s hardly the most uplifting first day of your new life.

I often find New Year’s Eve to be an upsetting day. There was about a four-year stretch where I cried every single year. I’d look back on the previous 365 days, remembering the tall goals I made and ultimately feeling as though I fell flat. It was an altogether easy way to feel like utter crap while overlooking everything I accomplished over the past year.

So, I stopped. No New Year’s resolutions must mean no disappointment on December 31st. While this helped some, I am a person who loves to have a goal to work towards.

It’s the same reason I went from avoiding running at all costs for 18 years to completing a half marathon. Having a goal in place is what keeps me going. Knowing this about myself yet hating New Year’s resolutions was quite the conundrum.

For anyone who feels similarly, I have a proposal: monthly resolutions. Committing to a goal for an entire year is not only overwhelming but also doesn’t account for the changes that you will go through in 12 months.

With monthly resolutions, you can hone in on a change you want to make now. Not only that, by picking a certain amount of days each month you want to hit the goal helps to avoid completely giving up on a resolution because of one missed day. As a person who tends to see things very black or white, it’s often easy to feel as though I failed at a goal when even one day doesn’t go according to plan.

For January 2025, my goal is to hit 10,000 steps a day for 25 days of the month. By allowing myself days to not meet this goal I not only am avoiding burnout, but am giving myself grace on days where I’m sick, glued to my computer getting work done, or simply can’t walk that much. So far, I’ve been able to push myself without going over the edge.

Some days that means walking laps around the house while my friends watch football. On others, it means realizing just how much I move my body from walking to class and chasing around the kids I nanny, without even trying to reach a step count.

They say it takes two weeks to create a habit. It is my hope that as these months go on and my goals change, the habits from previous months will stick.

For anyone overwhelmed or unamused by New Year’s resolutions, I encourage you to try to implement these monthly changes. Maybe it’s not for you, and that’s ok. But, it never hurts to try!

After all, I didn’t think blogging would be for me, and boy am I glad to be back.

For the first time in 2025, you heard it here first.

- Kylie