We have officially stepped into the new year and with that comes the much-hyped and talked about “Yearly Resolutions”. People are big on resolutions; they post on their socials about their new year resolutions, make notes and lists, swear to stick by them, and share with their friends and family to motivate them. These resolutions are people’s way of holding themselves accountable to themselves. It is disputable if this is the right way or not but either way resolutions make a yearly comeback. 

In this piece, I would like to dissect the reason why people feel so passionate about these resolutions but oftentimes lose the motivation midway.

Are people making these resolutions under peer pressure? Are people just trying to keep up with the social media trend? 

Social media has proven to influence our life choices. People exhibit signs of heightened anxiety and depression while they are scrolling relentlessly. 

“Whatever we consume shapes our personality”

This proverb holds true for social media intake. We unconsciously feel obliged and entitled to whatever we see on social media, we draw comparisons putting ourselves under immense pressure to imitate the lives of others and we take everything as we see. 

It’s been often said and conveyed that whatever we see on social media unconsciously influences and clouds our decisions. The urge to have some kind of resolution partly comes from this social media frenzy. 

According to a 2018 report issued by GlobalWebIndex, people ages 16 to 24 spent an average of three hours and one minute using social media each day. This pertains to the point that social media influences peoples’ thoughts and opinions to a great extent. 

Some of the yearly resolutions are influenced by social media. The superficial beauty standards and peer pressure force people to compare themselves to what they see online; perfect bodies, perfect romantic lives, perfect careers, and what not!

People tend to resort to making a list of resolutions guided by social media. This negatively impacts their mental health when they see themselves failing. Why should people be forced to look a certain way, talk a certain way, have a certain career, and follow all of these obsessively? 

These yearly resolutions should come from within, what people have learned over the course of the previous year and how they would like to step into the new year. Resolutions are great if they are self-guided and feel good but if your resolutions keep you disturbed, anxious, and perplexed then what good are those resolutions? You won’t be able to keep up with those resolutions with the stress that you’ve taken upon yourself anyway. 

Personally speaking, I have been there as well. You post your resolutions on your socials to keep up with the trend and because of FOMO. It reminds me of not feeling the best about myself as I didn’t check the list of superficial beauty standards that make us think that a certain type is perfect. The pressure gets you so it did and it made it to my resolutions list. It was etched in my mind that this is not normal and I need to hit the gym, diet, or something to look a certain way.

The point of sharing this one incident is that we all have been blind followers of these trending resolutions, resolutions that are guided by social media.

It is not to pull out a blatant critique of “resolutions making” but to put it out there for you all to think about. You can be a better judge for yourself and reflect on your resolutions in this new light. Hoping that everyone finds it in themselves to reflect constructively and choose things that uplift their spirits and not the other way around.