As the clock stuck midnight on Dec. 31, millions of Americans celebrated and rang in the new year. This includes the age-old tradition of creating New Year’s resolutions.
The New Year’s resolution is a fickle entity — people should strive for improvement that is still realistic. The practice offers itself as the one time of year people can completely change themselves for the better.
In society, this “better” often revolves around weight loss and eating right. In fact, almost 30 percent of all resolutions revolve around this. Losing weight greatly outscores every other category of self-improvement, tripling the number of American’s striving to make better financial decisions and quintupling the number of those wanting to learn something new.
What is so important about weight loss? As a society, achieving the perfect beach bod has become the pinnacle of success. It values people who are tall, thin and conventionally beautiful. Billboard supermodels are the standard and society casts shame on those content with their average appearance. Even those who fit within the “beauty mold” are encouraged to lose an extra pound or two. It doesn’t matter how much money a person has, how many places they’ve been to or how happy they are with their lives.
However, less than one in 10 people will feel successful with their resolution at the end of the year. Gym memberships spike in the month of January, and fall back to normal by February. For most, the dedication to shrink the number on the scale lasts less than a month. To keep a resolution, it has to be important to the individual. Making resolutions about weight loss is more important to society than it is to the individual.
Those who want to strive for a healthier lifestyle are more successful than those who want to lose weight, because they are doing it for the right reasons. The problem is, in the long run weight loss just doesn’t really matter. There isn’t some magic right “size” for a healthy person, and it’s absurd to sort people by the numbers on their jeans. In 10 or 20 years, fond memories won’t come from the treadmill, but from experiences.
There should be more value placed on becoming better people, inside and out. More people should seek financial stability and knowledge. To be a beautiful person isn’t the same as being a size four. Rather, it’s being kind and understanding.
Beauty is more than skin deep, and no amount of time at the gym can transform or make a person gorgeous. New Year’s resolutions shouldn’t conform to society’s values, but rather to fit the individual’s. They should improve the way people live every aspect of their lives.
Think about what people could achieve if they applied that time at the gym to something bigger. Think about how many new things they could learn and all the extra time they could spend with their loved ones.
When we value appearance above all else, the little things that make life better are taken for granted.
Carly Scott can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Idaho_Scotty.