5 New Year resolutions you wouldn't mind sticking to

It’s a trap that a lot of us fall into; as the clock strikes twelve and the New Year is soundly celebrated, we all think this year is going to be different, this is going to be the year. This is the year where I’m going to fall in love, make a million, find the cure to cancer and get a first… well maybe not.

I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade but I’m sure it’s fairly obvious to most that if you set realistic goals and resolutions, then they’re more likely to come to fruition, thus making you feel accomplished and therefore happier. There’s nothing worse than coming around to summer, realising you haven’t cured cancer yet and beating yourself up over it. I didn’t actually make any grand sweeping resolutions this year, finding them very hard to stick to. I have a few personal goals for 2014 but nothing that I feel I need to vow to change dramatically. Rather than signing your life away and swearing you’re going to go to the gym every day for the next year, here’s a few suggestions of things that might be a little more realistic, achievable and actually good for you along the way!

1. Get the right amount of sleep.

This might sound like a slightly odd resolution, given that the general opinion of students is that they doing nothing but sleep. But I’ve found that students tend to sit at one extreme or the other. Either they’re getting no sleep at all, surviving on caffeine pills and diet coke; or they’re at the other end of the spectrum, sleeping for about sixteen hours a day and consistently not getting up until 1pm. Clearly neither of these is a good use of time. It might sound a bit grannyish but I found that if, for at least five nights a week, you can try and have a normal “bedtime” (i.e. before midnight) and try and get up at a reasonable time (before 10am), then as well as getting more done, you feel much better. Less groggy, more alert and more effective at what you’re doing.

2. Save a little for a rainy day.

This is another one students often find hard to do. On campus I often found myself buying coffee once, sometimes twice a day, and calculated that basically I was spending a lot of money on something I didn’t really need. Instead what I started doing was saving my pound coins, those that I normally would’ve spent on random stuff. In the end I saved nearly £100 in pound coins, and went to the bank to cash it in. It’s not a lot, but it made me smile knowing that otherwise those probably would have gone on inane purchases. If you want to save big style, you can of course vow to put some money every week in a savings account. It doesn’t have to be a lot – just the price of a couple of pints, but it does soon add up!

3. Give a little.

Pick a charity. It’s often said that giving a little can make you feel warm inside and it’s true. My chosen charity is the World Wildlife Fund, having been interested in their work for quite a while. Your charity can be anything you like; from environmental causes, to disease research, to aid work – it all counts. You can decide whether you want to go out and volunteer (LUSU offer lots of volunteering opportunities) or you can donate through various schemes. Don’t let naysayers tell you that it doesn’t count if you only give a small amount. I’m sure most charities will tell you that if all their small donators suddenly gave up because “they weren’t helping”, then they would be in a bit of a pickle!

4.  Try a little harder.

Go to at least 80% of your lectures. This might sound bad to some people who go to a 100% of them, but I know how easy it for the attendance record to slip down! I thought I did pretty well last term on the front of going to most of mine, but when I actually calculated my average – it was lower than I’d hoped. Some days you’re ill, some days you just don’t feel like it (we all have those!) – but if you push yourself to go, and make the effort, it will pay off in the long run – especially as exam season approaches.

5. Try something new.

It’s refreshers and lots of societies will be about trying to gain your attention. If you’ve got a free slot in your week and there’s something you fancy, or sounds really interesting – go along and give it a go! Societies are a great way to meet people and to learn something new/share an interest. Of course you could come along and join student media…

Of course it might be difficult to do all of these, or even two of them! But the main point of this article is to highlight that you don’t necessarily need to overhaul your life at the beginning of every year in order to do something that will really effect/help you. Look for the little things, edit the small things and you never know – the big things might start to happen by themselves!

Unfortunately, we have lost track of who originally wrote this article, as it did not have any author information..

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