How many times in your life have you heard the phrase, “New year, New me?” In today’s society, there is an expectation that people should not only save their big goals until the new year but also create a new image of themselves. New Year’s resolutions create a massive trend of peer pressure to change yourself, producing new insecurities that are often unattainable. These next years, the only goal that should be made is to leave resolutions behind altogether.
It’s the beginning of March; have you reflected on how many of your goals have already lost traction or have been ditched altogether? If you realize your New Year’s goals are not working out, don’t worry; you’re not alone. According to Innovation Insights by Stephen Shapiro, 24 percent of people have failed on every New Year’s resolution they have set each year. This doesn’t include the length of success until failure, which is an even more surprising percentage for most. In fact, Baylor College of Medicine reports that 88 percent of people who commit to a New Year’s resolution wind up failing before the end of January.
Recent social media trends have displayed a norm of “glow-up” culture, and New Year’s resolutions are adapting to the new media expectations. People all over the internet are pushing the idea that every year, individuals should prioritize having a glow-up, changing something about themselves to look better, as their New Year’s resolution. One of the most common examples is to become thinner than before. According to the Forbes Health survey, 34 percent of adults’ New Year’s resolution last year was to lose weight. These people are giving in to the internet’s beauty expectations and changing who they are to try and blend in with the relevant status quo for the new year.
On social media platforms like TikTok, there are trends where TikTokers ask the viewers to comment on ways they can glow up for the new year. According to Cosmopolitan, 44.5 billion videos have been posted on TikTok under the tag “glow-up”, which includes girls as young as 13 years old posting videos asking how to become prettier. Commenters suggest wearing more makeup or buying new clothes because their outfits do not fit them, or even going as far as to tell people they need to get skinnier to become prettier. Influencers like Spencer Barbosa are starting to speak out on how these glow-up expectations are not helpful or fun but, in fact, cause more insecurities for people leading into the year to come.
“I don’t need to lose weight, my life is happy the way it is,” Barbosa said in one of her recent TikToks.“That’s the thing about life is that we’re supposed to look different, and there is not a [weight] goal you’re supposed to be.”
The more the internet influences people’s decisions, the more toxic and unhealthy New Year’s goals are getting. Social media’s impact isn’t slowing down anytime soon, so New Year’s resolutions need to.
However, many do not agree. Some argue that New Year’s resolutions are beneficial because they can create a good frame of mind and a fresh start. They often believe that change can be positive, and goals frequently cause people to branch out to develop new and productive habits. While having goals and ambitions for yourself can be a healthy practice, the recent pressures and expectations on New Year’s resolutions have caused them to become detrimental. New Year’s resolutions create a toxic way of thinking that we are not good enough and constantly need to change and evolve. Instead of thinking about what you want to get rid of in the new year, people should remember the moments in life you enjoyed and focus on how to incorporate similar ones in the new year. My family has a tradition of doing a yearly recap of the top 10 things we liked most about the prior year. Through this activity, you can focus on the factors that make you enjoy life, creating a constructive mindset for the new year.
