With the New Year arising, a lot of people enjoy writing and planning their New Year’s Resolutions! 

The authors of this article are Nikki Petrarca and Sidnee DeLuca, Seniors of Poland Seminary. Questions explored include:

• What are a few of your New Year’s resolutions?
• What do you plan on doing after the holidays?
• What are some good ways to stay motivated in the New Years?” 
• How do you plan on achieving your top goals, and how do you envision your year ?

Sidnee DeLuca’s Response:

A few of my New Year Resolutions would be to put more time into being with my family, to work out, to go to the gym, and to stay motivated in school in order to get my high school diploma. Some things planned for after the holidays are to spend more time with my mom, continue working, start going to the gym, and hanging out with my friends.

Some good suggestions on how to stay motivated during the New Years is by rewarding yourself when accomplishing a difficult task. Something easy that can be done is after accomplishing a goal buying yourself a coffee. Staying motivated means taking time and effort. Something found to be helpful is taking goals and difficult tasks step by step or slow. Creating checklists and writing down notes in order to accomplish them is also a very helpful tool in order to be sure the task gets done!

I would plan on achieving my top goals by writing them down in a journal and taking them day by day. Taking baby steps is a method to use to accomplish huge goals. I envision my year being a fresh start with a lot of new beginnings. After receiving an early christmas gift it has been very motivational. The Planet Fitness Membership motivates me to workout as much as possible if not at work making money.

Nikki Petrarca’s Response

Something new that has grown really important to me is applying for colleges and actually envisioning what I would like to see myself being in the future, like planning my major or what colleges and trade schools would be best suited for me to go to, so for me one of my top resolutions is to continue to plan on my after graduation life because of that. I also want to continue to build and bring awareness to my platform. Acceptance over adaptation that is all about inclusivity for those who are neuro-divergent or have a health condition and community service. I also want to start doing self care Sundays and keep up with my health and fitness. A way for me to stay motivated is through my friends and pageantry; both are super encouraging to always do my best and live to the highest form of myself and that’s something that keeps me going.

Motivation and Resolution Tips

Family

Especially as seniors getting ideas for motivation or goal finding can be hard. Here is a variation of different ideas for some New Year’s Resolutions everyone could write down in their list. 

The first New Year Resolution suggestion is putting more time into your family. A handful of teens have a short amount of time to see their family. A lot of them have parents who work during the day. Teens have school whether it is online or in person. Several enjoy going out with their friends more on the weekends and are in relationships. Additionally, many teens would also typically like to play a sport. While a lot are playing a sport or working out, others go to work or have a job. Lots of children and teens are also the type to participate in school clubs and activities. These would take place after school.

An easy solution to seeing family more often could be to purchase a paper copy or download a family shared calendar app on digital devices! That way everyone can put down the times they would be busy and hopefully after planning, everyone could either choose a day they are available to hang out or do something fun! It is also helpful to try just the little things, such as texting them more.

Some nice texts you could send would be.

• “Have a great day at work, I love you.”
• “How was work?,”
• “How was school?”
• “I’m about to head to work, I hope you have a great night. I love you.”
• “Have fun and be safe.”
• “Let me know when you get home.”

Lastly, a great way to put quality time into your family would be by calling or FaceTime them. This could be helpful to catch up and talk, depending on where everyone is for the time being and for the families who are not together or that may live far away. This may also go for long distance friendships and relationships. 

Traveling

Another fun New Years Resolution many families and friends decide on is traveling! People enjoy traveling to different places around the world and are booking fun vacations around the New Years and holiday season! The families that don’t go over their winter break with kids most commonly decide to go on a spring break or summer trip, so they don’t have to miss school.  Unfortunately, the only problem with traveling far is whoever is booking the trips needs to afford it. However, planning the trip is definitely an investment worth making. Booking plane tickets, hotel rooms, and packing everything you need for the trip is extremely important. 

Cleaning

An activity typically a lot of families tend to participate in their free time over the New Years would be deep cleaning and reorganizing their house or spaces. People would call this spring cleaning.  It is not a difficult task to help around the house. Some people start with the chores that are incredibly small, quick and easy. Some examples of small tasks children can learn to do to be extremely helpful would be doing a load of laundry, and the dishes as well as putting them away. Children can also learn how to take the garbage out, get the mail, and put their items away in their room in the right spots.

 A common problem people may have is where clothes are put. A great start would be reorganizing and putting laundry away. An easy solution for cleaning up clutter would be by putting their piles of clean laundry and clothes away. This would save the family their time and space. Getting in the habit of doing this on a daily basis is a great idea to keep clean and guarantee for it to stay that way. 

Doing the dishes is a very respectful and important part of living with a family. It shows the others that the being is capable of cleaning up after themselves. Putting the dishes away guarantees everyone would have a clean dish to use during the day. 

Taking the garbage out saves many families time and is also shown as a sign of respect. Parents tend to get frustrated when having to replace an overflowing garbage bag or bin. It also will get heavy and build up over time. 

Also, another way children and teens can help their parents out while spring cleaning can be by  simply going out to the mailbox and getting the mail. It is a helpful habit to save parents time to have to go outside and get it. 

 If the family were to have pets, it is very important to constantly be taking great care of them such as feeding them when needed and cleaning up after them.

The last minor and tiny chore that children can do would be to put items and valuables away. This one should be a given or the bare minimum of cleaning. However, many children and teens forget to complete this task. A great way to show your family members that you are not lazy, is by putting everything away. This way things are only out in the open when needed for use. This creates more space for things that are necessities and need to be out in use. 

Other more big tasks and chores may be dusting, vacuuming, and washing other objects and furniture around the house. Some people like to change the position or direction furniture is facing by moving it into another direction. It is a helpful and productive activity to show your family the capability of keeping clean. 

Charity

A great and very important New Years resolution possibility to add to the list is to do more volunteer work for the local community! A lot of organizations and programs struggle to find teens who would like to volunteer. It is greatly appreciated by local communities to have teens in the process of helping them out. It can be worth it in the long run for a lot of high school students to look good on college applications. It is also a great opportunity to experience what it may be like to help out your community and feel great about yourself afterwards! It is always nice to help out those who are less fortunate than us in our free time. It gives them the opportunity to be happy over the new year. 

Saving Money

A top New Year’s Resolution is to organize bank accounts and to save your money. For example, each time you were to get a paycheck, it would be nice to have a certain amount of money to spend and to save. It is a smart and important tool to have in a long term point of life. It would be smart to consider saving money for necessities such as food, water, electricity bills, health insurance, etc. 

Communication with Friends

Stay in touch with friends, A New Year’s resolution is to stay in touch with your friends! Working on communication with friends is a very important task a lot of people may struggle with! The easiest way to stay in touch if not hanging out, could be to FaceTime your friends more often. If you don’t get the time to see your friends as much, a great way to keep in touch and catch up is by either video chatting or texting consistently. 

Clean the Car

An enjoyable resolution for some is to deep clean the car out! It can go from washing the exterior, to deep cleaning the interior. If going to the car wash isn’t enough, it would also be great to consider hand washing your car. For some, this may be tricky and need some research to get the correct tools and to do it correctly! However, with the interior, it is a lot easier detailing cars, this just goes for taking things out of the car, vacuuming the inside, and reorganizing a lot. Some also enjoy decorating their cars with cute car decals,stickers and also purchasing air fresheners to guarantee them to smell nice.

Family Cooking

A New Year’s resolution for families and typically parents is to cook more for their families! A fun way to pursue this sort of resolution is to try out new and fun recipes online! Loads of recipes can be found. Many recipes will be found on google, youtube, pinterest, tiktok, and many other sources. They can be any recipe, from breakfast, lunch or dinner. Some even choose to bake different desserts. Many home cooked meals will be needed throughout the year for the families and a great thing to do is to find a variety of choices on a budget.

Organizing

Another thing people tend to need to get done in the New Years is to clean and organize your closet! Tons of people take their clothes out and get rid of clothes they don’t wear. It is a productive way to start the year and a lot refer to this as a “Spring Cleaning” task. 

Organizing Electronic Devices

Another idea to add to your resolutions’ list is to clean and organize devices. As a teen, it is known that many people own cell phones. Some may own an Iphone, Android, or flip phone. Many other children and teens own iPads, iPad minis, or other variations of computers. Something important in the winter time and spring season is to keep everything you own clean and to not get sick during the flu and cold season. A great way to keep clean and not get sick is by cleaning your electronic devices. Many keep their devices on them or easily accessed throughout the day and it would be extremely important to keep them clean for the most part. The amount of time you spend clicking on the devices would be countless. A great way to clean your devices is by using glass cleaner or a spray bottle. Using a paper towel to dry it off is also important for it drying properly. 

Avoid Gossip

A suggestion from a high school student is to avoid drama and gossip into the new year. A lot of people tend to get wrapped up in drama throughout their life, and it is not worth the time or stress in the long run. While it may be nice of you to be there for someone or listen to someone upset, always beware of the gossip and don’t say anything you will regret. It is not a good look or good feeling to be involved. 

In Conclusion

This New Year’s resolution can be difficult and some may not know where to start. Everyone out there has some sort of obstacle or fear that has not been met yet! This calls for getting out of their comfort zone! It takes time, planning and bravery to overcome those fears or obstacles! If it can be thought of, think of a goal and think of all the obstacles or fears stopping you. Then think again on how to overcome this fear or obstacle. Therefore, your goal would be met. 

A great way to plan on accomplishing difficult goals and tasks is by purchasing a planner or calendar. It is a great way to start the new year, fresh and on a brand new page. It is full of new beginnings and fresh starts. A calendar is great for writing down important dates. The planner is useful for the details of the important dates.  A lot of productive and successful people write down their goals and ambitions. It is a great way to inspire them to want to achieve their goals.