Hamilton Students' Resolutions for the New Year
Photo by Cora Kuhlenbeck
By Sarah Onysio
There's no doubt that almost everyone was ready to move on from 2020. Hamilton students are very optimistic about the coming year with 78.8% of students making New Year’s resolutions in 2021. Students at Hamilton have a variety of different goals for the coming year, all focused on trying to improve themselves and their situations. Making a New Year’s resolution at the beginning of the year can help you focus your year and be more optimistic about the months to come. As senior Emma Hartman put it, “When I start the year with positivity, it is easier to remember to be positive as the year progresses, which can get me through lots of stress or other difficult things.” Starting off the year with hope of improvements and a resolution can help you stay positive and optimistic about how much you can achieve in the coming year.
Many students’ 2021 resolutions have to do with recovering from habits created during quarantine in 2020. For example, one of the top three resolutions for this year was centered around sleep. Many students' sleep schedules were changed during 2020, with students either staying up later than they usually would or going to bed very early in the afternoon. Senior Patrick Baldwin Jr. wrote, “Sleep is most important to me right now. It’s important because quarantine has screwed up my sleep schedule, to the point where one a.m. is my most productive hour. Getting back to my usual ... sleep schedule is very important to me.” This is a reality for many students this year. Out of the students that made resolutions this year, 40% of them made a goal that somehow involved their sleeping habits. Students have many different ideas for fixing their sleep schedule, from leaving their phone far from their bed to waking up earlier so they feel tired earlier.
Another popular resolution at Hamilton is exercise. Almost 58% of students who made resolutions included a goal about exercising. Each student has their own reasons for wanting to exercise more. Some made exercise goals to make them healthier and get in better shape. Others, like junior Sarah Kidd, wanted to exercise because it improves her mood. Kidd wrote, “I made a goal to exercise more this year, which is most important to me because not only does it keep me healthy, [but] it also makes me a happier and more energized person.” Some students like freshman Gavin Samanske even mentioned how they wanted to exercise to look out for their future selves and keep their bodies healthy as they grow older.
The most popular resolution, which was part of 60% of peoples’ 2021 goals, is self-care. Self-care resolutions can go in many different directions depending on what an individual thinks that they need most in their life. Self-care goals can include, but aren’t limited to, participating in activities that you enjoy, working on your mental state, and taking breaks. Senior Nikki Nair says that her self-care goal for 2021 is to “do the things that make [her] happy.” Another form of self-care is working on your own self view. Senior Bella Brundage says that her goal is “to become a more assertive and carefree human being.” There are many other reasons that people want to work on self-care, including improving their learning, the various physical and mental benefits, and making life more enjoyable. Overall, many different students agreed that developing self-care goals were very important to their wellbeing in 2021.
In addition to these top three resolutions —sleep, exercise, and self care— there are many themes throughout the goals that students have made. Twenty-five percent of students made some sort of goal that had to do with money or spending. Freshman Mira Vonachen wrote, “Changing my spending habits is an important goal for me. During quarantine I let loose with my money habits, and since then it has become a weekly manner.” Another popular resolution is phone and technology use, with thirty-three percent of students making a goal involving this. People have many reasons for wanting to reduce their screen time — having more time to work on hobbies, getting better sleep, and being able to complete their work first. Freshman Noah S. says he wants to decrease his tech use so he can “focus on more things and get the important things done first.” Some students have even more specific goals like freshman Nick Kihn, who wants to make it onto the varsity football team.
All in all, most Hamilton students are pretty confident that they will be able to achieve their goals during 2021. On a scale from one to five, (least confident to most confident) on average, students rated themselves a 3.8. Twenty percent of all students rated themselves a five and were very confident that they would be able to fulfill all the goals they set for themselves. Hamilton students have set many goals for 2021, and are very optimistic about this coming year and their ability to grow during it.
