PAIGE LISTON | OPINION COLUMNIST

It is a Tuesday night and you have some time to kill, so you decide to make the dreaded 10-minute trek over to the Health and Recreation Complex. Once you arrive, however, you discover that every single elliptical machine, treadmill and bike is occupied.

Since the gym was too crowded, you instead head to the Ruth Lilly Science Library to get a jump on studying for your Friday exam, but almost every desk and table is already full with students.

A crowded library and gym full of overzealous students working hard points to one thing: People are working on their New Year’s resolutions.

When a new year begins people to think of the popular phrase, “New year, new me.”

Although this phrase can seem cliché, it may motivate people to better themselves now that they have a fresh start.

Sophomore Nick Waltz has worked at the HRC for two years and has seen an increase in gym-goers during the month of January.

“There is definitely an increase in students and community members for the first few weeks of the new year compared to the later months,” Waltz said. “People start new schedules in January and want to squeeze working out into their routine, but only a few really last and come in consistently.”

The most popular New Year’s resolution is losing weight, followed by getting organized, spending less and saving more, enjoying life to the fullest and staying fit and healthy, according to a study from the University of Scranton.

The study also claims that 49 percent of people have little success with keeping their resolutions and only 8 percent are successful in achieving their resolution.

Personally, I think these statistics are disappointing.

If you are trying to improve upon yourself, you should take this commitment seriously and not lose focus just because the month has changed from January to February.

Sophomore Jenny Applequist plans to stick with her resolution moving forward.

“I have always been somewhat dedicated to my fitness,” Applequist said. “But this year I made a goal to make it an even bigger part of my life so that 2015 could set the tone for the years to come.”

As college students, it is hard to push ourselves to be better or to stick with difficult goals because we do have challenging schedules. I think it would be extremely rewarding if we used the year 2015 as a time to focus on our goals and change the statistic of successful resolutions.

For some, it is helpful to make the resolution smaller and more attainable. Perhaps you could aim for having that perfect 4.0 grade point average at the end of the semester. That way, your goal carries you throughout the majority of the year, not just the month of January.

Sophomore Bailey Beckham plans on doing just that.

“College can become overwhelming at times, but a new year forces me to check my priorities,” Beckham said. “One of my many priorities is to constantly improve upon my grades, and a new year and new semester provides me with a fresh start to do so.”

Whether your objective is to visit the HRC more often, to live your life to the fullest or to focus more on schoolwork, it is important to keep your resolution as a priority in your mind so that the phrase “New year, new me” can actually become a plausible reality.

Cartoon by Audrey Meyer