After many hardships and life changes, the enervating year of 2020 has finally come to a close! To celebrate the end of this tiring year, people are once again engaging in the annual end-of-year tradition of making new year’s resolutions. 2020 has impacted everyone differently and changed the global perception, which in turn affects people’s goals and aspirations.

There are many views among students over whether making resolutions on new years are helpful or not. Some students participate in the tradition and some don’t. One student who stays consistent with making resolutions for themselves is junior Anahi Yeverino. Yeverino doesn’t make her resolutions super specific because she usually finds it easier to accomplish small weekly and monthly goals.

“I’m pretty good at sticking with my resolutions throughout the year, but this year will be more difficult because we are all limited. I have to understand that we are still in a pandemic,” Yeverino said. “I think this is a perfect time to start improving myself mentally rather than just trying to accomplish other goals since I’m spending more time at home. My resolution this year is different from my previous resolutions because I never really thought about my mental health before, but it is my main focus now.”

As a result of the quarantine, Yeverino had to learn how to keep herself both busy and optimistic.

“Staying home gets so draining for me because I’m someone who likes exploring, meeting new people, and discovering new places, which is why I want to focus on my mental health since I can’t do these things anymore,” said Yeverino. “The pandemic has been the major influence for my resolution because I needed to have a realistic goal for myself that I could achieve from home. My resolution this year is to be happy because I want to do good in school, but my mental health comes first.”

Like Yeverino, freshman Abdullah Bitar makes resolutions for himself every year and maintains them because he believes that consistency is key.

“If I’m not consistent, I’ll never learn,” Bitar said. “My resolutions are always different; this year it’s about working out and last year was about piano. 2020 has made me a harder worker due to all the free time I got which has motivated me to make better goals for myself that I can work hard to reach. The major influence that shaped my resolutions was the extra time I found, and I found ways to make more time for myself. My resolutions are to work out more consistently and to start on schoolwork when it’s given to me rather than leaving it to the last minute.”

On the opposite spectrum, senior Ellie Consolvo doesn’t usually make resolutions for herself because they put too much stress on her to conform to goals that aren’t generally realistic.

“I would rather better myself realistically than set goals for myself that will depress and stress me out,” voiced Consolvo. “This year, my developed perspective that would impact my goals for myself is that life will keep on going at the same rate, even when a new year starts. It is exciting and a time for rebirth, but stressing myself out for a goal isn’t worth it to me. I want to be happy and live my life with small goals that will amount to something bigger.”

During 2020, Consolvo realized that current changes in society are a lot bigger than she had ever imagined.

“Along with my developed perspective, I have realized how polarized the country is and how hard it is to make any progress at all,”  Consolvo. “The major influences of 2020 that shape my goals were politics and social media. I became involved in social justice and activism.”

While Consolvo doesn’t make resolutions for herself because the expectations for them stress her out, senior Lydia Mollhagen chooses to not make resolutions because she believes that “if you want to make a goal for yourself, you shouldn’t wait until the end of the year to do it.” This year however, Mollhagen has decided to stray from her neglect of the new years’ tradition and has made resolutions for herself.

“I feel like starting off 2021 with a good set of goals that will keep me motivated to be my very best self during these difficult times,” said Mollhagen. “I hope to stick with my resolutions this year. The goals I set for myself are somewhat challenging to maintain if I am not in the right mindset, so I hope I don’t get discouraged from my goals as the year progresses. My resolutions this year are different because this is the first year I decided to really make resolutions. My goals are mostly academic goals so they are consistent with regular goals I try to make for myself, only this time they are long-term goals rather than my usual short-term goals.”

A major factor that contributed to Mollhagen’s decision to make resolutions was the pandemic because it has really changed the way she views the world and her life.

“I realized how messed up things are and I became more grateful for my health, the health of my family, and the luxuries I have access to,” commented Mollhagen. “This new outlook has impacted my decision to make resolutions for myself this year because with all the negativity that is happening in the world, I think it’s important to better myself and my surroundings in any way I can. My resolutions this year are to get all of my work in on time, pay more attention to all my classes, and to study more for quizzes and tests. My personal goals are to spend more time outside, spend more time with my family, and get more sleep.”