By Elizabeth Kessel

As tradition for most, at the end of each year people decide on what they would like to change about their lives. From silly to serious, there is a wide range of New Year’s resolutions.
Some lighthearted and uncommon resolution ideas are to get your picture taken in five different places, break a record, make a new friend a month, try new foods, learn something that you have been wanting to for a while, create a chain of random acts of kindness and take more selfies or take fewer selfies.
Some of the most common resolutions include to lose weight or work out in some way, to quit smoking, start saving money, travel more, volunteer, drink less alcohol or become less stressed.
Staff member Ryan Smith, like many, wants to exercise more during the new year. But he wants to have fun with it as well.
“What I would actually like to do is just get out and do sports in general,” Smith said. “Soccer, basketball…rather than an actual gym membership.”
New Year’s resolutions are meant to create a fresh start and to help people achieve something that didn’t happen the year before. First-year college student at Clackamas Aubrienne Davis shared her resolution, which involves time management when it comes to studying.
“Not procrastinating as much,” Davis said.
In order to accomplish her goal, she hopes to divide her homework into manageable segments instead of trying to do it all at once.
“A friend of mine says you have to reward yourself,” David said. “So, if you do work, then for ten minutes do something else, and then you do thirty minutes [more] of work.”
Associated Student Government member Karla Zárate wants to expand on what she’s already been doing.
“I do a lot of community service things and I like helping others,” said Zárate. “To do more projects that help other communities would be my resolution, to try to invest more time in that.”
Resolutions are infamously difficult to keep, and can be long, tedious, hard and frustrating. But with these tips, they don’t have to be. There are ways to make goals become reality.
1.State your resolutions out loud. Let people know your goals, since accountability can be found in numbers.
2. Make short-term goals rather than long-term. It will be easier to keep track of, see the progress and may lessen the burden of how much work goes into the resolution by making it manageable.
3.Use the buddy system. To have people in your corner that you trust can be invaluable while trying to stick to your resolution.
4.Don’t forget to make time in your busy schedule. Act as if it’s another appointment you can’t miss. You’ll be thanking yourself at the end.
5. No matter how short or long the goal is, don’t give up and don’t forget to treat yourself.
Most importantly, remember it’s about the journey, not necessarily the end. Have fun with your resolutions, enjoy the process and have a great new year!
My list is full; now it’s time to get yours on paper with the list provided. Fill in your resolutions and cut out the box to take it with you.