New Year’s Resolutions—to Keep or Not to Keep?
4 min read
Level: Intermediate
Countless Brits make shiny lists of New Year’s resolutions—why don’t they get fulfilled?
In the UK, as the year comes to a close it’s a fun custom among families, friends and co-workers to discuss New Year’s resolutions. Some of us like to make big plans with very specific goals for change. Others prefer to choose more generic resolutions for something they’d like to happen, but aren’t overly bothered about. Overall, approximately 1 in 7 adults in the UK will make a New Year's resolution in 2023. That’s about 9 million British adults! For some it’s considered serious but for others it’s light-hearted. Read this article to find out more about the different types of New Year’s resolutions and why sometimes we keep them, and why sometimes we don’t…let’s go!
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Types of New Year’s Resolutions
A wide variety of New Year’s resolutions are made in the UK. Here are some of the top ones:
- exercise more
- eat more healthily
- quit smoking
- drink less alcohol
- spend less time on social media
- spend more time with family and friends
- save money
As you can see, health (both mental and physical) is top of the list. This could be due to many factors but possibly the biggest is the pandemic. When people were in their homes they spent more time eating junk food and less time exercising. Now they are paying the price and wish to improve their health. Also, mental health problems have increased a lot over the last several decades in the UK. So Brits are now looking for ways to be healthier and take care of themselves more. With an increase in green product sales, fitness equipment and natural produce, this is something that keeps rising.
Why do we Make Them?
There are many reasons people make these promises to themselves. One of the main ones is so we can feel we have achieved something. British people are experts at comparing themselves to others. This shows on social media. People wait for likes on their photos or for words of affirmation on their profiles. Another reason may be that in our fast paced society things move so quickly. We are always looking for something new; a new goal or something exciting to look forward to.
Finally, British people are known for being good at joking about themselves and their failures. However, underneath, British people often feel terrible about their mistakes. Despite their reserved attitude, they will often go above and beyond to fix their mistakes. This could be why New Year’s resolutions are popular. It gives us a chance to fix what went wrong. What better time for a new beginning than a new year?
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How Many of Them are Successful?
People can end up breaking their resolutions very quickly; after a few days, or weeks even. Around 7 out of 10 people don’t manage to keep them all year unfortunately. But there are still many Brits who manage to stick it out until the end. One way that resolutions are more likely to be kept is to make more specific and realistic goals. Giving a set date or making a timeline can help. For example, instead of saying that we want to lose weight, we should say, ‘I want to lose 2kg by June. I will achieve this by exercising three times a week for thirty minutes.’ If the goal isn’t realistic then it’s more likely that we’ll give up altogether.
Many British people are task oriented. This means a successful person is one who ‘gets the job done’ efficiently. However, it can be seen as a weakness to ask for help in our culture. This may be why so many resolutions fail. Perhaps if we all asked for support and made one achievable resolution with clear steps, we would see it through to the end.
Perhaps you are wondering what kind of resolutions to make for 2023 or how to start. Well think no further because we are here to help you! As teachers we love offering support to our students and sharing our culture with you in our 1-1 classes. So book a class today and create some great New Year’s resolutions with your teacher—you won’t regret it!
Vocabulary takeaway
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Please note: These blog posts are written in informal, conversational English.