A New Year’s resolutions are traditionally made on New Year’s Day. New Year’s Eve is considered to be the largest holiday celebrated on the earth. The first-time goals were made they were made by Babylonians making promises to their gods. The Romans started making these resolutions in the month of January. During Medieval era, it took place at the end of the Christmas season during “watchnight” services. In fact, according to the American Medical Association, approximately 40% to 50% of Americans participate in New Year’s resolution. Whether you make goals for the year or not it is important to know that 46% of those who make common resolutions (e.g. weight loss, exercise programs, quitting smoking) were over ten times as likely to succeed, compared to only 4% who chose not to make resolutions.

Popular goals include resolutions to: Improve physical well-being by eating healthy food. You could ask local food places to offer healthier choices. You might want to lose weight by exercising at the high school gym-getting a free pass to the equipment room or joining the local exercise business. You could start a bicycle club or a walking club where you challenge each other’s miles. You might drink less alcohol or pop, quit smoking, stop biting nails, get rid of old bad habits.

You might want to improve your mental well-being by thinking positive, laughing more often, enjoying life by planning a murder mystery dinner party. Maybe you want to improve your finances: get out of debt, save money, make small investments. Improving your career by performing better at your current job, get a better job, establish own business. You might want to just learn something new by improving your grades, getting a better education, learning something new such as a foreign language or a musical instrument, study often, read more books by joining a book club using our new library, improving your talents.

Take care of yourself may be the most important: become more organized, reducing stress, be less grumpy, manage time, watch less television and play fewer sitting-down video games. How about you take a trip to someplace new even a short day trip this coming year. How about volunteering? Maybe you know you just need to get along better with people, or improve social skills. Make new friends by forming a dinner group, schedule quality time with family members, pray more, or be more spiritual, or simply spend less time on Facebook. Write an article for the Mountaineer. We have a great little town, but why not make it even better? How about those with musical abilities sharing it around town. Those who love writing poetry reading their poems out loud, or how about someone organizing a play.

An unofficial survey of Big Sandy residents brought the following comments when I asked “Do you make New Year Resolutions? “Yes, we’re going to start to eat healthier, doing a cleanse first.” “No, it’s just another day. We don’t make resolutions. Setting goals can be made any day.” “Sometimes yes. I’m not telling you, you’d put it in the paper.” “I kind of believe I should. Yes, like everyone in America, I’m going to drink more water, eat healthier, exercise more.” “Never, because I don’t want to beat myself up when I don’t do them. I don’t want to be disappointed in myself.” “I don’t make them on New Year’s Day. I spend the whole month of January to evaluate and plan what goal I’m going to set.”

The most common reasons for failing at New Years’ Resolutions is setting unrealistic goals (35%), not keeping track of their progress (33%) and 23% forgot about it. According to a study from the University of Bristol men achieve their goals 22% more often after engaging in goal setting, while women succeeded 10%.

Over the month of January, the Mountaineer will be publishing interviews with local people who have set goals and accomplished them.