Not My Monkey

New Year celebrations date back to 4,000 years ago when Babylonians made promises to the gods during the Akitu festival, compared to Knights who would renew their vow to chivalry at the end of each year by placing their hands on a peacock. Romans even celebrated the new year in March. Today, celebrating the new year supposedly brings good luck, however, many of us celebrate due to traditions and social norms, often through eating, dancing, watching/lighting fireworks and, of course, drinking. With these celebrations comes New Year’s resolutions, usually centred around drinking less, eating healthier or going to the gym. Whilst these can be beneficial, we could be more ambitious. This post discusses some attainable and sustainable New Year’s resolutions that you may wish to incorporate into your year!

Unsurprisingly, New Year’s resolutions have become marketing campaigns for businesses. Want to join the gym? Well, I can guarantee your local gym has an offer starting in January to capture you for the year, assuming most of us will drop off after a month or so. Here are some of my goals for 2025 to avoid falling into these traps and make a positive impact:

1. Read one non-fiction book a month: the goal of this is to widen my knowledge outside of my studies (p.s. I now buy all my books secondhand from World of Books)
2. Consume less plastic: this mainly concerns food shopping, trying to buy fruit and veg individually to avoid unecessary plastic, but it’s always in the back of my mind whenever making a purchase
3. Shop locally: even though I’m on a student budget, I’m still going to try make purchases from small, independent businesses to help grow the local economy and uplift unique entrepreneurs

It’s not about doing it perfectly, it’s the engagement that counts. For example, reading a book doesn’t impact anyone else, and if it were to be perfect, I’d set my goal to read a book per week, but I know this is unattainable for me. Therefore, if I can engage in something realistic and use that information to make a positive change, then I’m content with my efforts.

Here are some other resolutions to try, they may not be the most exciting, but are easy to complete and make a huge impact:

• Consume less meat
• Walk more rather than driving
• Turn the lights off when not in use
• Take shorter showers
• Build a compost in your garden

Happy New Year!