By Lydia Libby

First off, I would like to wish everyone a happy New Year and welcome you back to school. With the start of the new year, and our spring semester, I want to touch upon the idea of the New Year’s resolution. A New Year’s resolution is the intent of a person changing a trait or behavior of theirs. However, 4,000 years ago the ancient Babylonians were the first to begin the tradition of the resolution. The Babylonians would make promises to their gods and would return items that they borrowed at the start of the new year. By doing this, the Babylonians were free of debt, and had more time to focus on what was important. The Babylonians paved the way to the world’s current vision of the New Year’s resolution. Both the Babylonians and present-day resolutions offer new ways to improve well-being at the start of each year.

However, is it really a new year, and a new me? Many people ask this simple question, and hope that the answer is yes. Humans enjoy succeeding and learning new things. Goal setting is a vital part of life; if you set a goal too high, it may not be attainable, and you could get frustrated. Popular goals in today’s society include losing weight, volunteering more, lowering debt, exercising more, and improving mental well-being. Over the course of our winter break, I spent time going to hot yoga. For me, the meditating and the stretching helped me to forget any underlying surface stress. My resolution is to find that sense of relaxation every day, no matter how long it lasts. For some, their resolution could be completely different from mine, or the ones I listed above. Advice can be given on the topic of resolutions, and it would only be to set goals that are manageable. The point of New Year’s resolutions is to change the negative in your life. By making goals that are unattainable, it can create unnecessary stress.

Setting healthy, attainable goals will be conducive to productivity as a student here at SMCC. Goal setters tend to manage their time wisely, and by using your time management skills, it can help to reach your goals as a student. Maybe that means seeking help from a tutor, or even spending a little more time on homework. It never hurts to try something new to switch up a boring, everyday life. Meet a new friend. Try a new food. Try a new hobby. Let yourself just be, and enjoy the moment. You never know what good things can come out of a positive change in a daily routine. Oftentimes setting new goals helps with networking. Meeting new people helps to create lasting friendships where you can go off and explore the world. Keeping track of goals and managing a schedule are what makes a person successful. For 4,000 years humans have been practicing the art of the resolution — not owing people or the world anything and feeling inner freedom.

Inner freedom brings out the happiness and dedication in each individual. Maybe the Babylonians had a really bright idea in teaching society about letting go of the negative. Society cannot be successful if we continue to harness negativity throughout our lives. Which is why as students, teachers, friends, and family we must be mindful of deciding on what really needs to remain in our lives. Remember to let yourself be happy and explore. Here is to the new year of 2017, and a wish that all of the students here at SMCC have a successful spring semester.