Every year, 45 percent of Americans make New Year’s resolutions. While so many get the idea of starting fresh and breaking a habit or beginning a new one, only 64 percent keep their resolution for the first month, according to Psychology 2014.
According to Huffington Post, the top 10 resolutions among Americans include: losing weight, getting organized, spending less and saving more, enjoying life to the fullest, staying fit and healthy, learning something exciting, quitting smoking, helping others in achieving their dreams, falling in love and spending more time with family.
While some students have gone the cliché route of losing the freshman 15 or cutting out caffeine, others have decided to go with a deeper approach for their New Year’s resolutions and making some life-changing decisions.
Sophomore Cassidi Shorter has decided to become more intentional with her friends. Shorter feels as though it is important to better her existing friendships for spiritual gain, accountability, and life-long relationships.
“On campus, a lot of people would say I’m known for being a social butterfly,” Shorter said. “I can’t walk five feet without saying ‘Hey,’ to someone which is great. That’s one thing I love about the Harding community, but a lot of my friends have suffered from that… They take the time to ask me about my life, but I want to be able to ask them about what’s going on with theirs.”
In a nutshell she said she hopes to become more invested in others’ lives and have more of a support system through the relationships she builds.
“For those of us, who aren’t from Searcy, our families live elsewhere and our friends here are the family we have,” Shorter said.
For many students, surface level friendships are not enough.
Freshman Peyton Chisam also pledged a New Year’s resolution. After discovering the website www.#1word365.com, where subjects choose their word of the year to commit to, Chisam chose the word “content” to build her life around for 2014. To keep her resolution, she made a bracelet and wrote the word “content” on it. Every time she looks down and sees her word, it is a reminder of how she will be content with the blessings that God has provided her with and how her wants are not as important.
“If I get discouraged it will be hard to be content,” Chiasm said. “I’m scared if a major life event or something I can’t control happens then I will get discouraged. That will be hard to stay content, but if I know that God is there, He will take care of it.”
