After a rough and tumble year in 2016, it was natural to have high hopes for 2017 as people set their resolutions and stole a kiss on New Year’s Eve.
Now that we can put a period on week one of classes, and the first month of the year, it’s time to evaluate whether our optimism matches our ambition.
Here is an update on the new year’s resolution status of the Daily 49er editorial staff:
Jason Enns, Arts & Life Editor
After failing miserably to balance both work and school last semester, I vowed to myself to learn from my mistakes. I am going to go to all my classes, stay organized, be proactive and just overall crush it at life. It’s a perfect set-up for failure. Already, I let myself get distracted by work, which caused me to be late to both classes Monday. My hope is that this is merely an early hiccup and the rest of the year will go swimmingly, but that would be a huge lie. If I’m being honest, I don’t even know what I was wanting to accomplish in 2016. I probably had the same drive and hopes for myself last year, just to settle for survival by June.
Jade Inglada, Assistant Design Editor
I know it’s already going to be a month since 2017 started, but I honestly can’t remember if I made a resolution or not. Did I? I know I’ve done it before and managed to keep it up, but right now I’m drawing a blank. Whoops. Regardless if I did or not, I’ll just keep maintaining my good habits: drinking more water, walking often, wearing all the cute lipsticks, making bad jokes, etc.
Hanna Suarez, Opinions Editor
Despite turning twenty-two this April and being in pretty bad shape, I was really determined to learn how to ollie this year. I’ve been skateboarding since I was about nine years old, so naturally I am confident in my ability to ride a board. I can cruise down the street whenever I like — though my endurance fails me usually (smoker’s lungs). I even dropped fifty dollars on a new popsicle deck because all I had were cruiser boards that are really hard to ollie for beginners. I’ve been watching videos and trying to take better care of myself…but every time I even glance at my new board my knees buckle, my ankles grow weak and I throw in the towel. What can I say, fear is the ultimate obstacle — and I sure as hell can’t afford any broken bones.
Valerie Osier, News Editor
I did make a New Year’s Resolution to get more fit, but it didn’t start until the start of spring semester. I knew this semester was going to be crazy so I decided to make it a little crazier by adding a 7 a.m. jogging class and a weight lifting class. I usually don’t go through with anything unless a grade is attached to it. Also, I’ve never lifted weights before and my mile time is eternal, so we’ll see how this goes.
Matt Simon, Sports Editor
I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions. What I do believe in is working in months, thinking in years and planning in decades. True success doesn’t happen when the clock strikes midnight.
Lindsey Maeda, Design Editor
Forget the New Year’s Resolutions, because it’s all about 30-day challenges. Completing a 30-day challenge is more realistic and helps you gain momentum for the rest of your goals. Imagine checking off a personal goal each month. Sounds encouraging to me.
Miranda Andrade-Ceja, Managing Editor
I think I might have considered going the cliche-route and making my New Year’s Resolution the Extremely Typical: “I’m going to go jogging every morning!” …But unfortunately, I don’t think I actually cared enough about jogging to commit to this.
My actual New Year’s Resolution should have been: “spoon my dog to sleep every night.” Because I’m good at that, I’m really good at that.
Micayla Vermeeren, Editor-in-Chief
I feel like I’m the embodiment of a tweet I saw a while back that said “New year, same me because I’m the b***h that never learns.” Okay, I do like to think that, contrary to said tweet, I learn sometimes, but the start of a new year is usually not that time. I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions – I think most resolutions are nothing more than desperate clutches at goals other people say we need to have. I completely understand the appeal of starting out a new calendar year with new habits, but let’s be real – if you really wanted to change something, you wouldn’t wait around for the stroke of a clock to do so. If you’re one of the gung-ho resolution-ers and have unique, personal goals you’ve been able to stick to, I offer a cosmic gold star your way. If you’re like me, though, cheers to not trying to force our goals into an arbitrary timeline and celebrating the first of the year like God intended: hungover, exhausted from a late night at work, making grossly healthy grocery shopping runs, or any combination thereof.
Jose De Castro, Photo Editor
My goal this year was to stop eating Skittles daily. Last year was a disaster for me as I ate them like they were drugs, technically they were my drugs. My friends saw this and told me to stop eating them and so I did. It was a good time to stop too since my best friends wedding was approaching. From the beginning of 2016 to November I was off Skittles. But after my best friends wedding in mid-November, I started binge eating Skittles and it was downhill from there. My friends noticed this and were disappointed, as they caught me eating bag after bag and even a 41 oz one. I realized that they cared about my health and that I had a huge problem. Alas 2017 is here and here I am committing my life to no Skittles at all….starting in February.