As we enter the final month of 2025, many of us have taken time to reflect not only on what we’ve done this year but also on what we want to improve in the new year. Some of those resolutions include stuff like “I want to exercise more” or “I want to cut [specific things] out of my diet.”

I think the most ironic thing about making New Year’s resolutions, at least for myself, is that I make these goals that I would like to do or actually achieve. However, I always end up pushing them off to the next New Year’s resolution and the year after that. This is something that seems to be a universal feeling when it comes to New Year’s resolutions; however, I think there is a way that we can actually make resolutions that will last.

One of the ways we can make these New Year’s resolution goals actually achievable is by zooming out of the giant goal that we want to achieve. For example, a New Year’s resolution of mine is to actually read all of the books that I have on my bookshelf. While this seems like an easy resolution on the surface, my schedule varies day by day, especially while handling a full academic course load, working part-time and having a social life.

One of the ways I can make my resolution more achievable is by instead of saying read all of the books in my bookshelf changing it to “I will read one book on my bookshelf during each month.”

If I zoom out, I can make the goal more achievable by saying for each month of the year, I will read one book. If I don’t finish it, I can write down how far I got and put that book on next year’s resolution. While it is still pushing off part of the goal, it makes it more achievable. I’m able to go through and read all of my books without trying to cram 15 books within 12 months.

For some New Year’s resolutions, this advice will not work, as some of them are easily attainable for some people to do within an entire year. To the people who are able to achieve their resolutions within a year, I give my praise because I know that I tend to set slightly unachievable goals.

As mentioned previously, there’s a lot of irony when it comes to New Year’s resolutions; another one is that we make them things we want to improve on. We are all human beings, and as much as we’d like to claim that we’re perfect, the reality is that we are not. That being said, I want to offer an alternative way to think about resolutions because when we think about them, we think about things that we need to make immediate changes about, and not things that we want to do that bring us joy.

I noticed this a lot in my previous New Year’s resolutions; a lot of them were more serious rather than something funny or about something that I enjoyed. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve had a lot of interests that I used to be so passionate about that I haven’t made time for it. For example, I love drawing and because of my schedule, I don’t have a lot of time to do that.

As we get older, we tend to think that everything has to be super serious, and in certain times and places, that is correct. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t allow times for ourselves to just do something because we enjoy it and it’s fun.

This year, I plan on making one resolution for the entirety of 2026. I want to make time each month to do something that brings me joy, like staying up late and binge-watching my favorite TV series with my cousin or picking up my mom and brother and just going bowling for a couple of hours.

I know for myself that since I’ve gotten to college, I have been very serious about my academics and putting all my effort into that, which isn’t a bad thing, but because I’m so focused on my education, I don’t do a lot of things for fun unless I am on a break longer than a three-day weekend.

So, whether you make a New Year’s resolution about doing something to help better your life, or a resolution where you do something because it makes you laugh and feel utter joy, there is a time and place for both.

This year’s had so many ups and downs, and like every year, there’s always going to be a major thing that makes it bad or good, so whatever your resolution is, I hope that the new year goes great for everybody, no matter what lies in store.