• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Login/ Register
  • Editorial Team
  • Get Involved

Exeposé Online

Making the headlines since 1987

Exeposé Online
  • Home
  • News
      • Local
      • COVID-19
      • University News
  • Comment
  • Features
      • National
      • Worldwide
      • Politics
      • Interviews
  • Science
      • News
      • Lite Science
      • Common Misconceptions
      • Environment
      • Health
      • Technology
  • Sport
  • Lifestyle
      • Fashion and Beauty
      • Features
      • Food
      • Wellbeing
      • Sustainability
  • Music
      • Interviews
      • Features
      • Live Reviews
      • Album Reviews
      • Single Reviews
  • Screen
      • Reviews
      • Features
      • Interviews
      • Festivals and Awards
  • Arts + Lit
      • Interviews
      • Features
      • Reviews
      • Creative Writing
  • Amplify
  • International
  • Multilingual
  • News
  • Comment
  • Features
  • Science
  • Sport
  • Lifestyle
  • Music
  • Screen
  • Arts + Lit
  • Amplify
  • International
  • Multilingual
Home / Uncategorized

New Year’s Resolutions: Just another capitalist guilt trip?

This Christmas I was given guilt as a gift but, naturally, with the state of the postal service, it arrived just in time for New Year’s Day. Perfect timing: New Year, new me, right? Bollocks.

I’ve never really understood this perverse annual self-depreciation contest, feeling bad about yourself or your indulgences. We roll off the back of Christmas joy and well-wishing straight into hating ourselves, before even the Yule-tide has come to an end and we miserably rip tinsel off the wall. It’s a time where we decide to break ourselves down into positives and negatives instead of building ourselves up. These usually stem from things that we’ve always been self-conscious about – there’s nothing really novel about New Year’s resolutions – and we usually make the same promises every year. ‘This year will be the one where it all changes’, we tell ourselves, only to feel crushed when we give in and give up, delicately balancing our self-worth on a vain hope.

New Year, new me, right? Bollocks.

Collectively around New Year, we allow ourselves more indulgences to do away with the guilt. We lie to ourselves that we’ll be healthier, we’ll quit smoking, we’ll stop drinking but, as the miserable month of January draws to a close, I wonder how many of us will have persevered with our resolutions?

We roll off the back of Christmas joy and well-wishing straight into hating ourselves

The spirit of New Year is a lie, predicated on our belief that it’s a magical time, that as soon as the clocks strike twelve we’re transformed like Cinderella. Need we recall that, at twelve, Cinderella turns from a princess to a pauper – not the other way round. I hate to break it to you, dear readers, but you probably won’t do all the things you promised yourself you would.

Don’t get me wrong, I definitely advocate for self-care and I definitely believe that making informed choices and setting goals are positive things. You want to lose weight? I say ‘go you!’ You want to quit smoking? I say ‘that’s incredible, I’m so proud’. But hearing the words ‘New Year, new me’ brings with it a sigh.

The change has to come from you: it has no timer and no calendar.

There’s a marked difference between making an informed choice and genuinely wanting to be better or change, and making a resolution for the sake of New Year. The change has to come from you: it has no timer and no calendar. There’s no magical best-before date for the things you don’t like about yourself and if you don’t really want to change deep down then a superficial and vain resolution is unlikely to change that.

Take me last year. I made so many promises because I felt rubbish about myself, my body, my lifestyle. I decided to make all the cliche changes to my life: I joined the gym, I bought fancy exercise clothes to motivate myself, I bought a lunchbox so I could bring healthy sandwiches to campus. Do you see the common denominator?

You got it! It’s capitalism. I bought all these things and spent all this money to make myself feel like I was making a change. But really all I was buying into was the consumerist milieu of, what I’m going to call, resolution-profiteering. It’s no surprise that gyms advertise around this time with free sign ups and trials, and it’s neither a shock to me that exercise clothes are on sale. Companies know that, as the Christmas season comes to an end, there’s a perfect balance of the ‘treat yourself’ mentality that comes with Christmas cash and resolutions that point customers towards certain products. They make millions off selling us back our own self-hatred by convincing us that the way to change and become better is to spend money. I, for one, don’t want to buy into that. I don’t want to be manipulated by money and good advertising.

They make millions off selling us back our own self-hatred by convincing us that the way to change and become better is to spend money

So, I’m at a loss. People keep asking what my resolutions are and I seem so pious when I tell them I think it’s stupid, kind of like the New Year version of the Grinch. My not-making-resolutions makes other people feel bad, as if I think I’m superior, like there’s nothing I could change about myself. But that’s not it, I’m just convinced that the construction of resolutions sets us up to fail.

Live and let live, make your resolutions, but don’t come crying to me when you’ve got no money, and no motivation left to go to the gym.

I’ve decided, therefore, that I will try to make resolutions that mean something; I will thank people more often and stop being sorry all the time.

I will remind my friends and family that I think they’re great more often, I will try to practise self-care, take time out to think about myself and, last but not least, I will promise you, readers, that I will try to write more positive articles, rather than hating everything like my articles often point to.

Live and let live, make your resolutions, but don’t come crying to me when you’ve got no money, and no motivation left to go to the gym.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Feb 6, 2017 By Heledd Wilshaw Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: lifestyle, new year, wellbeing, new year's resolutions, capitalism, fitness and wellbeing, 2017

Primary Sidebar

exepose

The official Instagram account for Exeposé, the University of Exeter's independent student newspaper.
Old issues here: issuu.com/exeposeexeter

NEW ISSUE ALERT! This issue we report on the Univ NEW ISSUE ALERT!

This issue we report on the University's growing proportion of private school students. 

Read more for an insight into how the pandemic has affected the final year experience and an exploration of sexism in film criticism.
NEW ISSUE ALERT! Check out highlights such as our NEW ISSUE ALERT!

Check out highlights such as our exclusive report on increased harrassment and stalking in Exeter and our coverage of LGBTQ+ History Month.
📢 NEW ISSUE ALERT 📢 Check out highlights li 📢 NEW ISSUE ALERT 📢

Check out highlights like an exclusive @dmasmusic interview, details on student protests, and our back page on the impact of the BUCS cancellation

The first issue of 2021 is available now on Issuu: https://issuu.com/exeposeexeter/docs/final_bind
As editors of student newspapers at all 24 Russell As editors of student newspapers at all 24 Russell Group universities, we stand united against the Russell Group statement which declared ‘no detriment’ or ‘safety net’ policies not to be ‘appropriate’ or ‘necessary’ for students at this time. 

Having listened to students at our universities, we are calling on the Russell Group to act compassionately and empathetically and to reconsider their stance on ‘no detriment’ politics for assessments this year. 

Students deserve to be listened to. 

#RussellGroupRethink

https://exepose.com/?p=95888
Do you want to get experience in journalism? Is th Do you want to get experience in journalism?
Is there an opinion you want to share with the wider University community?
Maybe you just want to work alongside a great group of students?

Then join Exeposé!

We are the University of Exeter's official student newspaper and we would love it if you joined our society and came to write for us! Whether you're interested in writing news articles, reviewing the latest film release or researching an ongoing issue for a feature, there are enough sections of Exeposé to cater to all of your writing interests.
Membership is £5 (cheaper than lunch at Pret) and covers both Term 2 and 3, so it's important that current members also renew their memberships!
There is no commitment to writing if you join, you can write as much or as little as you want. Just buy membership from the link below and join the Facebook groups of any section that interests you, where you'll be able to see what articles are being offered and suggest articles to the editors.
If you're still unsure, don't hesitate to reach out to any of our delightful editors. They'll be able to answer any questions you have and tell you why they've enjoyed being a part of Exeposé so much.
Again, we would love to welcome you to our paper. We're very proud of all the writers who currently contribute and whether you write two or twenty articles for us, Exeposé will be happy to have you on board.

https://www.exeterguild.org/societies/exepose/
We are running online elections for these editoria We are running online elections for these editorial positions! Make sure you have membership before applying (from the Guild website). We look forward to reading your manifestos :)
📣📣 NEW ISSUE ALERT 📣📣 Remember to pic 📣📣 NEW ISSUE ALERT 📣📣

Remember to pick up your copy of Exeposé today at all University and Guild stands! 

This issue we have an exclusive followup on the University's response to ExeHonestly. 

An interview the manager of Cavern about how the famous venue is coping during COVID. 

And we celebrate the Exeter Chiefs' success in the European Champions Cup.
📣📣NEW ISSUE ALERT📣📣 Our front page lo 📣📣NEW ISSUE ALERT📣📣

Our front page looks at the confusion behind reduced contact hours for some students.
This issue also includes an interview with the Exeter University’s new Vice Chancellor.

The second issue of Exeposé this term is on campus ready for you to collect now! 

Find this issue in the Exeposé bins in Forum, Queens and DH1+2.
A big welcome to everyone arriving and returning t A big welcome to everyone arriving and returning to Exeter this week!

We've got exclusive investigations into the University and larger community, as well as some top advice for your first few weeks here.

Available in the Forum, DH2, St Luke's, and with the welcome packs! 

Not on campus? Check out issuu.com/exeposeexeter to read it virtually!
Load More… Follow on Instagram
Tweets by Exeposé Lifestyle

Contact Us: editors@exepose.com

Since 1987, Exeposé has given a voice to Exeter students. Over the years, the determination and political fervour exhibited by students through Exeposé have helped shape the University we study at today. We have received national recognition for our award-winning campaigns, investigations and surveys, and always strive to provide students with high-quality news, comment and features.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in articles and comments do not reflect the views of Exeposé Online or the University of Exeter Student's Guild.

        


© 2021
Website design: Harry Caton and Ellie Cook
Webdesign & development: Harry Caton