New Year’s day is a national holiday that is celebrated by people all over the world. It is also a day of exciting opportunity to bring a positive change to our lifestyle and mindset.

One of the many traditions on New Year’s day is creating a New Year’s resolution, or a promise to oneself to do something differently in the New Year. Surveys from the 2023 New Year show some interesting findings about the resolutions among different ages. Within just the first two weeks, many people end up breaking their New Year’s resolutions.

According to a 2023 Statista Global Consumer Survey, which asked adults what their New Year’s resolution was, 52% of adults answered they plan on exercising more. Over 39% of adults answered they wanted to save more money, and another 20% said they wanted to spend less time on social media.

Interestingly, a similar survey conducted by Forbes Health/One Poll found that in the 2023 New Year, young people increasingly created resolutions that prioritized their mental health instead of their physical health. The survey found that 50% of the people from the ages 18 to 25 said their New Year’s resolution was improving their mental health in comparison to the 39% of adults from ages 42 to 57.

Despite these findings, year after year, people across all age categories break their New Year’s resolutions that make them revert to their old habits for a multitude of reasons.

Lack of time

New Year’s resolutions are most often made impulsively on New Year’s Eve, without considering how realistic the change actually is. Adults and young people alike have many responsibilities that keep them busy during the day. If their resolution is something like exercising more often, or doing self-care, it can sometimes be difficult to carve out time for those types of resolutions with a hectic schedule.

Lack of resources/ money

Some people make New Year’s resolutions that involve resources, which can be costly and hard to attain. For people whose New Year’s resolution was to improve their mental health, they may need to seek some professional help from a licensed therapist or psychiatrist. These services are sometimes not covered by health insurance, and can be costly to maintain.

Loss of motivation

Loss of motivation upon starting the New Year as well as the loss of commitment is one of the most common reasons why people break their New Year’s resolutions. While many people feel a surge in motivation at the start of the year, that motivation slowly dies out when their life gets back to normal.

We can all agree that the start of the New Year is an exciting time to make resolutions in hopes of becoming a better person. There’s no need to feel guilt if you have already broken your resolution – there’s always next year!