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SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | JANUARY 2025 17 By Karen Range, Resident Will you be making New Year's resolutions this year? If so, did you know that you will be participating in a custom that dates back thousands of years? e ancient Babylonians are said to have been the rst people to make New Year's resolutions, some 4,000 years ago. ey were also the rst to hold recorded celebrations in honor of the new year — though for them the year began not in January but in mid-March, when the crops were planted. e Babylonians also made promises to the gods to pay their debts and return any objects they had borrowed. ese promises were the precursors to our modern-day custom of making New Year's resolutions. For those who make resolutions in current times, how many actually keep them? According to an article on the InsideOut Mastery website, approximately 38 percent of adults make New Year's resolutions every year, with the largest group being young adults ages 18-24. Only 36 percent of those who make resolutions make it past the rst month, and only nine percent successfully keep their New Year's resolutions. Other research states that as many as 45 percent of Americans make New Year's resolutions but only eight percent as successful in achieving those goals. With so few people able to actually keep their resolutions, why do people continue this tradition? is may be at least partly due to the hope that comes with a new year. As the old year ends, especially one that might have been challenging or sorrowful, it is benecial to hope for things to be better in the coming year, to see the new year as a chance for a new beginning. Perhaps that is why the most common resolutions tend to focus on making improvements, such as losing weight, eating healthier, exercising more, or quitting smoking. But other types of resolutions are also commonly made: • Enjoy life to the fullest. • Spend more time with family and friends. • Spend less, save more. • Get organized. • Travel more. • Learn something new. While it is true that many people feel that they don't achieve their resolution goals, there is good news for those who do make resolutions. One study showed that those who set New Year's resolutions are ten times more likely to actually achieve a change in their behavior than people who don't make resolutions at all. Whether we choose to make formal resolutions or not, we can decide to "approach the new year with resolve to nd the hidden opportunities in each new day" (quote from Michael Josephson). So here's to the new year and another chance to get it right. New Ye's Resutio

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