What’s your New Year’s resolution?

Well folks, 2018 is almost over. We at Prestige Store hope you had a good year and are all set for 2019. A new year, after all, is a time to make new beginnings. Speaking of which, if you are thinking of making a New Year’s resolution, here’s some things we think you should know before you buy that gym membership!

Health is the most common New Year’s resolution

A ComRes poll listed the most common New Year's resolutions, and the first three were ‘exercise more’, ‘lose weight’ and ‘eat more healthy food’. ‘Drink less alcohol’ and ‘quit smoking’ also appeared in the top ten. Which goes to show how well being is on most people’s minds. And the fact that gyms see a spike in new memberships in the month of January reveals that people do make an effort to accomplish them. But…

Do people keep their resolutions?

Statistics paint a rather bleak picture. Articles across news sites quote studies that reveal almost 80% people quit their resolution by the month of February. And while it’s easy blame lack of will power, the real reason can be complicated. In one study nearly 40% respondents said that the number one reason they has difficulty sticking to it was that it needed them to juggle too many other activities. On the bright side, some 8% people reported that they remained committed to their resolution to the end of the year. So while it’s unlikely that you will keep yours, it is certainly not impossible!

A trick to keeping a New Year’s resolution

An article in the Telegraph quotes Philip Clarke, psychology lecturer at the University of Derby Online Learning, who says: "They set long-term outcome goals such as getting a 'dream body' or to spend more time with family and, as a starting point, these sound like good goals. The problem is that the goal-setting process for many people stops there … People who develop action plans experience less anxiety, more confidence, improved concentration and greater satisfaction about achieving their goals and are more likely to succeed." He suggests making your resolution specific, measurable and achievable. So, instead of saying ‘I want to save more money this year’ chose to resolve something like ‘I will save ‘x’ rupees this year’.

New Year’s resolution is an ancient practice

Back in time, Romans used to offer resolutions to Janus, the god of beginnings, endings and the New Year. In fact, the word 'January' comes from this very god’s name. Janus is a deity with 2 faces; one of them looks back at the year just passed and the other one looks forward to the new year. According to the writer Columella, who lived in the 1st century AD farmers would make an “auspicious gesture” to him on 1 January by initiating the tasks they intended to get done throughout the year.