It is officially the start of a new decade. The new year began with a bang of fireworks and parties. However, along with the new year comes new year resolutions.

New year resolutions are goals or promises someone makes to do or not do something. They usually revolve around changing one’s lifestyle through diet or exercise.

The whole idea of resolutions on New Year’s frustrates me because if someone is truly unhappy with how they live their lives then they could change it at any time on any day. Why do they wait until New Year’s to change?

Through some research on varies sites and conversation I have deducted that the biggest reason is due to the incentive.

Back when New Year’s was first celebrated in Babylon, the citizens found the new year as rebirth and they set things similar to resolutions as a way to please their gods. This continued on through Roman times an onward to the modern era.

The idea that people view New Year’s as a fresh start has not changed. If the last year was bad peoples see it as a way to start fresh, a clean slate, when then new year starts. People set goals on this day because they feel it is the best way to start fresh and change themselves.

A lot of people seem to fall off the wagon a few weeks into the year, however. This makes me wonder if they truly care about their resolutions or if they just made some to follow the trend. If one means to change themselves, they should be serious and confident in the change.

Overall, one should not feel the need to change themselves on New Year’s. It is society’s fault a lot of people do not feel comfortable in their bodies. However, if you do want to change yourself stick to the plan and actually do it. Do not just set resolutions that are bound to be broken because you are not serious.