The holidays are over, the new year is here, and we all know what that means: new year, new you. But is it really?

A plethora of new year’s resolutions are made every year, being almost a crucial part of the new year. With people hurriedly writing down goals that they wish to improve upon the next year, in hopes to have a fresh start and create a better self. While some do end up being completed, it seems that most often, as the media portrays, these resolutions end up not working out. This raises the question, should resolutions even be created?

“I don’t think new year’s resolutions are necessary, but I think it’s a fun tradition,” sophomore Yuki Yoshida said. “While I don’t make them since I usually forget what my resolution is after a few days, I think it depends on the person of whether they end up achieving it or not, since some people probably do better with new year’s resolutions. But even so, I think that people, in general, are not able to achieve their goals.”

Yoshida takes a broad approach, saying that for the most part, it depends on the person. This seems to be a common sentiment among others.

“I like the idea of new year’s resolutions, but I don’t think they’re that important,” freshman Madeline Miller said. “I think they’re worthwhile if people really work hard to achieve them— it depends on the person and how much they’re willing to achieve their resolutions.”

It is true that resolutions are often hard to achieve because of the work that goes into it, with which sophomore Mabel Tong agrees. Rather, she chooses a simpler approach to resolutions so that not as much work is needed.

“It’s a good way to keep you in check because everybody knows that every single day it’s kind of like a refresh, but the new year is an official way to refresh yourself,” Tong said. “I actually make my resolutions very generalized so I make stuff like ‘I want to be more positive’ instead of making them specific. I know that a lot of people don’t follow them and the more specific they are, the harder they are to follow. They’re just easier to do.”

As the new year starts, maybe rather than making a whole list of specific resolutions, just do a general resolution, or maybe not even one at all. Find what works best for you, and do it. As cliche as that statement is, it’s classic for a reason.

“You don’t need a resolution to make yourself a better person,” Miller said. “But if resolutions help motivate people to do better, then it’s a great idea for them to write resolutions.”