The start of a new year is notorious for inspiring change. Although most people see it as a way to improve themselves, brands see the new year as a new way to make money. From gym memberships to groceries, consumerism is rampant during the new year.
Three in ten Americans make resolutions, and out of these people, 79 percent have resolutions relating to improving their physical health. This includes changing what they eat, how they work out, and their mental health. Of course, improving your physical health is important, but it can be expensive. On average, therapy can cost around $110 per session. Gym memberships can start around $10 but get as expensive as $300. On average, a family of four spends from $1,000 to $1,200 monthly on healthy food.
If a family of four wanted to eat healthy, and one person in that family did weekly therapy and went to the gym, it would cost roughly 1,700 dollars minimum per month. These costs aren’t only inconvenient, they’re unrealistic.
Resolutions as simple as improving your health have become so expensive and turn out to be almost impossible without breaking the bank. Even for high school students, completing a goal to make money is difficult. Junior Kaitlyn Cox said, “My goal [getting a summer job] was kind of based around making money, but to complete my goal, I had to spend money, like gas for driving to these places.”
Cox continues, “It was really hard to get a job because no one was really hiring a 16-year-old.”
Teens can’t complete their goals because they don’t have enough money, and when they try to get a job to earn money, it’s difficult to be hired. With both the money and pressure involved, it’s not surprising that most resolutions don’t last. 80 to 92 percent of New Year’s goals fail, and many blame themselves for being “unmotivated” or “lazy” when they give up.
Maybe it’s not the people who are at fault for failing, but the system.
Success will inevitably fail under a broken system. People are pressured to make goals, can’t complete the goals, feel guilty about failing, and repeat the cycle. Plan, failure, and guilt repeat yearly.
Some students, however, have goals unrelated to money. Freshman Natayla Washington stated, “My New Year’s resolutions are mostly mental.” She continues, “I wanted to have better time management.” Unlike the common resolutions tied to spending, her goal was about self-improvement.
By having a goal related to habits, Washington can avoid the cycle of consumerism by consuming little. She finishes, “I spend money on things I think will help [with my goal] sometimes, but they’re not necessary.”
In America, we are constantly fed ideals of productivity, improvement, and innovation. Although these ideals can lead to progress, they also lead to shame and guilt. People make goals that are too extreme, and once they start to slip, they let themselves fall because it’s too difficult to stand back up. Even if you have an incredible goal, you can’t achieve it based purely on aspiration; Change begins in habit, not consumerism.
Cox states, “Try to make your goals not too outlandish. If you’re trying to prevent spending money, don’t go to Starbucks every morning. Focus on the consistency of doing something, because after you make a goal, you need to consistently do it.”
Ultimately, the issue with New Year’s Resolutions isn’t a lack of drive or willpower; it’s the unrealistic, money-driven expectations people associate with the resolutions. When improving oneself becomes something that can be bought, failure becomes almost inevitable. Instead of wanting materialistic fixes, making goals on reachable, consistent habits makes growth more sustainable.
Although some goals will cost money, such as a gym membership or healthy food, if these products that relate to your goals are linked to strong habits, they are more likely to succeed. Furthermore, genuine change won’t come from the expensive gym membership or the dangerous diet; it comes from the choices we make every day. By redefining our goals with progress instead of perfection, we can break the ongoing cycle of unresolved New Year’s Resolutions.