As the days get colder and shorter, we wave goodbye to yet another year. With the embrace of a year comes the classic phrase, “new year, new me.” 

Over 4,000 years ago, ancient Babylonians held celebrations to honor the new year and made promises to the gods to repay debts and return any objects that were borrowed. Though New Year’s resolutions today are more personalized and typically focus on self-improvement, the promises made by the Babylonians paved the way to the tradition of making resolutions every new year. 

The New Year’s resolutions of RM students vary greatly, from music to likes and hobbies. “A resolution I have for 2023 is not to have any biases in any k-pop groups,” freshman Jessica Yao said. 

Other students had more relationship-related resolutions. Freshman Victoria Zhong wants to treat her sibling better and help out more in the family. 

Many New Year’s resolutions are centered on physical activity. “One of my New Year’s resolutions is to get back to running,” biology teacher Mrs. Bessy Albaugh said. “I used to be able to run 4 miles. But I’ve been super busy since September, so I probably can’t run as much.” 

In addition to running, Mrs. Albaugh wants to do more research on caring for native plants. She aims to continue her success from last year in planting native flowers in order to conserve bees.

New Year’s resolutions can be a great form of self-improvement, and many people use them to express hope for the new beginning. Senior Sophia Wu does not want to get romantically involved with anyone in the new year, and also wants to go to bed earlier to have more energy during the day.

Some students, however, have New Year’s resolutions that are a little more comedic. “I’m hoping to order enough boba so I can get a free one in the new year,” senior Lindsey Zhang said.