The History of New Year’s Resolutions and Ideas for Creating Your Own
Michael Kelly and Sarita Harbour
A new year is upon us. With that comes the opportunity for a fresh start at becoming the best you yet. Setting New Year’s resolutions for self-improvement isn’t something new, though. Cultures have been setting yearly resolutions for the last 4,000 years. You’d think that after so many years we’d be pros at New Year’s resolutions—but we’re still working on it. Learn how our ancestors handled resolutions, areas of your life you can improve on for the new year and some of the best ways to meet your goals.
History
Committing to “be better” in a new year may have started with the ancient Babylonians 4,000 years ago. Babylonians believed that if they didn’t follow through with their resolutions, they’d fall out of favor with the gods. Around 46 B.C., ancient Rome introduced a calendar with January 1 as the start of the new year. January was named after the Roman God Janus, who looks both forward and backward. Romans believed January was a time to review their behavior of the past year and commit to bettering themselves.
In 1740 in England, The Methodist Church introduced the Covenant Renewal Service. This service was usually held on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. It was a more spiritual alternative to the typical rambunctious celebrations of the day. The service encouraged participants to reflect on the previous year’s mistakes and resolve to “do better” in the upcoming year.
These traditions aren’t so different from how we view New Year’s today. Almost half of the US population makes resolutions to better themselves in the coming year. Culturally, we’ve also made New Year’s a time to reconnect with family and friends. This is often noted by the celebratory singing of Auld Lang Syne, a lyrical poem about reconnecting with old friends and looking back at past events of the year.
Are We Keeping Our Resolutions?
Many of us still make New Year’s resolutions today. According to a 2017 survey, 41% of Americans say they typically make New Year’s resolutions, 17% saying they infrequently make resolutions, and 42% saying they never make resolutions.
In 2017, the top resolutions in the United States were:
- To lose weight or eat healthier (21.4%)
- To make life or self-improvements (12.3%)
- To make better financial decisions (8.5 %)
This same survey found that just 9.2% of respondents reported they were successful in achieving their resolutions. Read Full Story
