How many new years have you begun by drinking champagne and boldly proclaiming your resolutions for the world to hear, only for them to be abandoned the next morning when the hangover hits? If you’re like me, a few. Going to the gym, eating healthy, keeping up with your coursework; it’s easy to set a list of shiny new goals and decide to completely reinvent yourself, but in reality, this rarely pans out. When you factor in busy student lifestyles, it can be nearly impossible. This leads me to wonder: have new year’s resolutions become completely unattainable?
Most new year’s resolutions are abandoned within the first year, and I’ll be the first to confess that I’m part of that statistic. A Forbes study finds that only six per cent of resolutions are kept for over a year. Why do we seem to keep setting goals we can’t stick to?
Mattie Thomas, a second-year student, tells me why she thinks most resolutions are abandoned so early in the year: “The problem is people are never specific enough with them. If I just say ‘reduce screen time’ that doesn’t mean anything […] That’s where me and other people have gone wrong.” She also emphasises how much unnecessary pressure is placed on keeping resolutions at the start of the year. Indeed, by pinning all our hopes onto a complete reinvention of ourselves on January 1, we’re depriving ourselves of a year’s worth of realistic progress on our resolutions.
As students, is it realistic to set resolutions? We’re already juggling so much with classes, societies, social lives, and part time jobs in many cases. How could we possibly squeeze in new, life-changing habits into our lives when our schedules are already so packed? Ksenia Kiddie, a third-year student, tells me about her past experiences with resolutions: “I usually keep them for the first month. Especially with uni, it’s harder when I get busy to stick to things which are maybe a bit more time restrictive. So I keep them for a month or two.”
When considering typical new year’s resolutions—eating healthy, exercising more, drinking less—we also begin to wonder if these are easily compatible with the typical student diet and social life, which often consists of nutritionally subpar meals and more alcohol than is ideal.
Adi Mehta, a third-year student, tells me her resolutions for 2026: “Take my iron tablet every day, convince myself to like olives, and get abs.” This short, refreshing list reminds me new year’s resolutions don’t have to be a massive overhaul of your life, but can be a few simple changes to make yourself slightly happier and healthier.
In the spirit of incorporating new habits instead of setting resolutions, challenges like “75 Hard” and “75 Soft” have trended on social media, with 1.8m posts currently under the hashtag #75hard on Instagram. These challenges consist of exercising regularly, eating healthy, reading daily, and drinking more water. Setting a time frame of 75 days is intended to help stick to these habits, as there’s a clear end goal in sight. Besides, marketing these as “challenges” encourages us to commit to them. It’s hard to resist the self-accomplishment and bragging rights that come with finishing one of these challenges.
Ksenia decided to begin 75 Soft in the new year. Though similar to 75 Hard, its rules are less restrictive and intended to be easier to follow. Two weeks into the challenge, Ksenia tells me how it’s going: “Everything other than exercising is probably going to be pretty easy to keep up. For the most part it’s things I do already. It’s not like a massive challenge for me but it’s about having more of a routine.”
Perhaps this is the way forward. Setting realistic, actionable, and fun goals that we can actually stick to and integrate into our lives. The goal is not to reinvent ourselves, but to ever so slightly improve upon our current selves.
Photo by Paul Morley on Unsplash