The history Of New Year’s Resolutions:
The first known resolutions can be traced back 4,000 years ago but these resolutions did not begin in January they began in March when the crops were planted and there was a religious festival known as Akitu that lasted 12 days. On these 12 days the Babylonians crowned a new king or they would confirm they loyalty to their reigning king. Babylonians would also make promises to repay their debts, these promises are what we base our new year’s resolutions on today. If they kept their promises then their pagan gods would give them a good will in return the next year.
A similar practice occurred in ancient Rome, after emperor Julius Caesar altered the calendar and established January 1st as the beginning of the new year. For Christians, January 1st became the traditional time for thinking about one’s past mistakes and to resolve and to be better in the future. Particularly in Britain, the tradition partially comes from Christianity and the Lenten sacrifices made in the run-up to Easter.
Even with the tradition’s religious origins, New Year’s resolutions today are a mostly worldly practice but people make resolutions only to themselves and focus solely on self-improvement which could be the reason why people find it hard to keep their New year’s resolutions. Even though most people don’t follow through with their New year’s resolutions we have had 4,000 years of this tradition and I’m sure it will last hundreds of years to come.
New research has shown that only one in eleven people are able to maintain their New Year’s resolutions for six months and under half of people break their resolutions within two weeks and this is due to lack of mental will power or pure laziness. Every year millions of British people declare to get rid of bad habits and implement new ones on January the 1st after celebrating the new year.
Are you one of the eleven?
New Year's resolutions are often health-driven, the most popular New Year's resolutions are: to lose weight, to exercise more, to eat more healthily. They can also be financial driven such as to save money or to get a new job. Some people chose to make a cultural change such as, to learn a new language, musical instrument, take a trip to another country or to volunteer for a charity. The most common reasons for failing were setting impractical goals (35%), not keeping track of progress (33%) and forgetting about the resolution (23%).
Just remember that you don’t have to wait for the first of January to make a resolution, you can make self-improvement anytime of the year.
What will your New Year’s resolution be?
Katie Trebes - The Sydney Russell.
