With another year comes change and people love change. Therefore, they make New Year’s Resolutions.

I’m really all for people that want to make a change in their lives, especially if it is positive. My family stays true to making a resolution each year and in the past, I have even made a couple resolutions of my own. My mom has always encouraged starting the new year with a brand new outlook. She also says that I should set goals as my resolutions.

To be honest, my first resolution was in 2010 and my mom proposed the idea that I stop sleeping with a night light. It was the most terrifying moment of my life because I was absolutely petrified of the dark. Needless to say, I cried myself to sleep for the first three nights but after that, everything went smoothly, so that was a success.

For example, I have considered eating better, losing weight and an array of things, just like many other people. As I grew older, I began to realize that my resolutions were staying the same and so were my parents’ resolutions. And as I came to further realization after that, I learned that we weren’t completing our resolutions and we didn’t even talk about them after January.

For the first week, we religiously worked towards the resolution. After that week, the resolution slowly made its way to the back of our brains until it was never heard from again.

This doesn’t just go for my family, but it also goes for almost half of America too.

According to Statistic Brain, 45% of Americans make a resolution each year versus the 38% who have vowed to never make one.

47% of people have chosen a self-improvement resolution such as eating better, getting fit, being more organized, etc. These are insanely cliche — everyone is doing them and they have been for years.

Along with this, only 8% of people have successfully achieved their resolution compared to the 49% who have infrequent success. Then of course, there is the 24% that have made a resolution each year but it continues to fail.

People attempt to motivate themselves with these resolutions but in the end, it is human nature to procrastinate.

Why wait a full 365 days until the new year to decide to make a change? You can definitely decide to make a change whenever you wish but apparently, the new year has a special kind of magic so everyone chooses to do it then. Any day can be the day you say, “Hey, I’m going to be more organized,” and you do it. It doesn’t have to be on January 1st.

Another thing:

How about we start small instead of going above and beyond? If your resolution is to eat better, why not start by adding healthier options slowly to your diet instead of attacking the salad bar right off the bat? It’s hard to go cold turkey from junk food but it is possible with time and determination.

Or we could just eliminate the cliche resolutions and replace them with something completely different such learning to play something eccentric, such as the accordion. You never hear anyone say they’re learning to play that. Resolve to finish that book you’ve been reading for the last couple of months but you just can’t seem to continue. Vow to help one another more often and smile at people when you walk by them on the street.

Even the little things are resolutions and in the end, they are good for everyone.

Either way, I am done with New Year’s resolutions. Instead, I am ready to make change throughout the entire year instead of just focusing on one day to wipe the slate clean.