By Angelica Niedermeyer, Staff Writer

According to the well-known philosopher Socrates, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” When making a New Year’s resolution, people usually examine their lives and resolve to change things in order to become a better version of themselves. Some examples of common resolutions are going to the gym, eating healthier or being more productive. In an article on Forbes.com from Dec. 19, 2016, writer Jules Schroeder refers to a statistic from a University of Scranton study that found that while over 100 million Americans make New Year’s Resolutions, only eight percent achieve their goal. This staggering statistic leads to a very obvious question: With such a low potential for success, are New Year’s Resolutions even worth making?

Yes, they are. Setting goals is important in living life to the fullest, and using the new year as a fresh start to set new goals gives us hope and lets us try again. “The new year helps you with your goals because it lets you completely start over and forget all your past failures,” freshman Skye Loures said.

Adults and students alike enjoy setting new goals for themselves that they strive to achieve. These resolutions often promote healthier lifestyles and perspectives that allow people to succeed and feel better about themselves. “A New Year’s Resolution isn’t a chore you’re supposed to take up to fully complete at the end of the year; it’s more supposed to be something that you remember in the morning and try to achieve during the day,” freshman Madison Marque said.

Be specific and realistic, and keep it simple when creating new goals.By choosing a few small goals, you can actually achieve them and feel good about your accomplishments. Slowly building up goals is better than going head first to your big dreams. There’s a greater chance of falling short and giving up if you set the bar too high, so start small and move up from there.

So when making New Year’s Resolutions this year, commit to a few small ones that will make both you and your community better. For example, you can decide to have a better attitude about school, to complete chores you’ve always put off in the past or even exercise small acts of kindness to the people you see every day. If you follow these steps, you give yourself the chance to be part of that eight percent who succeed in completing their New Year’s Resolutions.