This is an opinion piece after all, so here is mine. New Year’s resolutions do more harm than good. Most people set unreasonable goals for themselves when the New Year rolls around, and that leads to unnecessary feelings of anxiety and lowering of self-worth.

I personally don’t set New Year’s resolutions because I think they’re a crock of shit. Most people, myself included, aren’t all that great at setting reasonable goals.

There are also a lot of things that can cause a New Year’s resolution to go very poorly and get out of hand very quickly. Most people tend to make absolute statements about what they’re going to do, and that is just a setup for immediate failure.

For that example, you may start to religiously work out at the gym, but at some point in the year there may be a period where the flu keeps you in bed for a week or a few days when you need to set aside your plans for the sake of your job or family.

But on the other hand, it is just as unhelpful to come up with vague and distant goals for yourself because there is nothing to latch onto, and it isn’t specific enough to help you attain the goal.

Another reason that New Year’s resolutions suck is because they are surrounded with negativity. People tend to focus too much on things they want to change about themselves and the things they dislike about themselves, and that can be a very tough thing to do to yourself because you’re focusing on so much negativity regarding yourself. A vast majority of the time, negative emotions are not motivating, and they are often pessimistic.

An additional reason that New Year’s resolutions aren’t beneficial is because they are generally only focused on the outcome and not the process and the progress that is continually being made.

The final argument that I have about New Year’s resolutions and how they aren’t worth the time and energy is because they are reliant on outside forces. It is never a good idea to incorporate other people and moments of luck into your goal-setting. For example, if you’re vying for a promotion at work, it would be best to focus on steps along the way that are related to your performance (which oftentimes people don’t do.)

Starting off with the idea that you’re going to be a failure both in your own eyes and the eyes of the people around you if you don’t get the position you want doesn’t take into account the abundant factors that are not within your own control, such as your boss’ mindset and any other role changes within the company.

While setting small goals for oneself can be beneficial, a large number of people make their New Year’s resolutions negative and therefore don’t attain them by the end of the year, thus making themselves feel shitty and lowering their self-worth.