While most Morton East students went without a New Year’s Resolution last year, this year the majority intend to make resolutions to improve themselves.

According to GoSkills, every year millions of people make New Year’s resolutions, hoping to spark positive change. The recurring themes each year include a more active approach to health and fitness, improved finances, and learning new things for personal and professional development.

According to Piedmont, when you set a resolution and begin to follow through on it, you trigger a very powerful “neuro-hormone” in the brain called dopamine. Dopamine helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers and regulates emotional responses. Though dopamine levels are high as you set out to accomplish your resolution, they eventually drop.

According to Limeade, “New Year, new me.” Creating a New Year’s resolution is a great way to kick off the new year, almost like hitting the “reset” button. Writing out a list of goals provides you with direction. They allow you to plan your resources for the future. Ever accomplished something that seemed impossible at first? This is what it feels like when you make a commitment to yourself and keep it.

“I do have a New Year’s resolution, and that would be to work out and keep my body shape good. I’ll keep it to do better and have a better body,” senior student Brandon Gomez said. As some people push to make their ways better, this senior student had this to say.

“I do have a New Year’s resolution that would be to start earning and saving money to save up for a car or an apartment because this is my last year of high school, and after this, I’m going to be in the real world where I will have to earn things for myself,” senior student Jonathan Segura had this to say.

As Jonathan Segura explained how he wanted to do better for himself, this survey respondent had this to say.

“I didn’t make a New Year’s Resolution last year, but I guess you can say I did keep one because I technically didn’t make one. But this year, yes, yes I did make a New Year’s Resolution. My resolution is to be a better person by trying to be more patient, to learn how to control my anger, and learn to enjoy things more,” one survey respondent said. This student said that their main focus is to change their ways to be a better person, and this person can also agree to that.

“I made a New Year’s resolution last year; it was to accomplish one of my goals, and that was to start doing nails. I kept it to the best of my abilities. This year, I made a New Year’s resolution. My New Year’s resolution would be to stay focused on things that would make me and allow me to be happy,” Morton East student had this to say.

Moving to the next quote, this person also had this to say about their New Year’s resolution.

“I made a New Year’s resolution last year; it was to get better at cutting hair and spending time with my family, and I did follow I kept it. This year my New Year’s resolution is similar to last year, but It’s also adding to get my car soon and get better at cutting hair and to be with family,” student survey had this to say.

As some people wanted to change their way of thinking or the way of doing their hobby, along with the last survey, this sophomore student had something else to say.

“Did I make a New Year’s resolution last year? Yes, I did. I decided to stand on business and not let other people’s words and opinions pull me down and belittle myself. Did I keep it? No, I didn’t; it was hard for me to keep it. This year I for sure want to stand on business, not letting people who walked out of my life walk back in and affect my mindset and progress,” sophomore student Jocelyn Flores had this to say.