Start Your New Year’s Resolution Tomorrow

Fireworks over the Marist Green. Photo by Grace DeMarco '27

Every year, as the clock strikes midnight marking the beginning of the new year, society flocks to their freshly blank calendars to set goals, change habits and redefine themselves. This ritual, although a beacon of hope for those who look to start on a clean slate, is deceivingly restrictive. Yes, midnight marks a new year, but it also marks just another day. 

Does the push for self-improvement need to begin on Jan. 1? 

To Kelly Behr ‘27, “A resolution is something you can strike up at any time. To think it has to start on a given day that everyone else can sort of measure feels really limiting.” Behr is a student yoga instructor for Marist’s recreational program who looks to implement yogic mindfulness and philosophy into her everyday life. 

“It doesn’t need to be a performance,” Behr added. “Some of the best goals you can have, you don’t need to share with other people. You can just make them happen for yourself.” 

The hope and power that Jan. 1 holds doesn’t need to be an annual feeling. The optimism and mindset can be grasped and pulled through every day of the year. Timelines and benchmarks are great, but Behr challenges the typical outlook, offering that “maybe you don’t want to start on June 6, but you can start on July 1.”

The societal pressure to put your life and goals in the forefront of the public eye can also lead to unfulfillment and feelings of inadequacy if we can’t hold ourselves to the high standards we set for the new year.  A goal is only sustainable when it is done for the right reasons, and a good goal can be held onto for longer than just one calendar year. 

The cliche, “new year, new me,” does not have to define how we make goals for ourselves come the new year or any day we choose to make a change. 

“It shouldn’t be ‘everything I’ve ever done is trash, and I need to change myself,’” Behr explained. “You need to get to know yourself, accept yourself, and at times alter how you’re going to react for the sake of others. But I don’t think it’s about redefining who you are.” 

In January 1943, folk singer and activist Woody Guthrie put pen to paper in the center-fold of his notebook and made himself 33 resolutions. Guthrie’s goals aren’t measurable by any means and are very different from many of the extreme and abrupt resolutions we see today. In these pages, we see new types of goals, small changes in behavior and big ideas. “Work more and better,” “read lots of good books,” “learn people better,” “have company but don’t waste time,” “stay glad” and “love everybody.” Perhaps his biggest goal: “help win war – beat fascism.”

These types of goals do not possess the physical commitment and discipline attached to the goal of running a sub-four-hour marathon or the numerical goal of saving a certain amount of money in 12 months. However, these small changes, when taken day by day, can define your year in a completely new way. 

Like Guthrie, Behr challenges the typical approach to New Year's resolutions. She explained that it is more than just checking off a box or hitting a benchmark.

“I’ve sort of transitioned to an energy or essence that I want for the year. So, for 2026, I said that my words were going to be creative, daring, playful and discerning. These are four things that I’m going to find ways to embody throughout the year, but I didn’t want to give it a tangible form,” she said.

To call upon yogic teaching, Behr also offers a point often overlooked by our success and productivity-driven society. “We’re in the dead of winter, and our bodies are calling to us to rest and relax. So, when it comes to pushing yourself in very physical and demanding ways, or in ways that take a lot of energy, winter is not the time to start those, in my opinion.” 

“It's about reevaluating what's working and what's not working, but it’s less about stripping down and starting fresh. It’s more about manipulating what I’ve already got,” Behr stated. “I don’t really put pressure on it, I just sort of take it day by day.

So, this winter, challenge yourself. Can every day be a new year and a fresh start? Can you start small and be kind and forgiving to yourself?

When you wake up on that day, any day, and decide that it is time to take a step in a new direction, look to Woody Guthrie’s final resolution. “Wake up and fight.”