New year, new you?

MARENGO — In a recent survey by Statista, 40% of U.S. respondents said they won’t be making resolutions for the new year. That means that 60% will.

Among those who said they’d resolve to make changes in 2025, most wanted to save more money. One in five U.S. adults were committing to financial goals, Statista said.

Between 15% and 19% of respondents said they’d try to eat healthier, exercise more and lose weight.

The survey of 1,050 people over the age of 18 was conducted between Oct. 24 and Nov. 3.

At Brewed+Bronzed Boutique in Marengo, people lined up for coffee the day after Christmas, but no one had resolutions on their minds the last week of 2024.

Terria Beck, of Belle Plaine, in town for a funeral visitation, said if she had to make a wish for the new year, “It would be just to have a better year than last.”

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In February, Beck lost her son, Pat Rupp, in a work accident. He was 47 and left a wife and two children behind, Beck said.

The Sunday before Christmas, Beck’s dog, Miley, died. She was 12 ½.

Beck is ready for a better year in 2025.

Dakota Cooling, of Marengo, doesn’t make New Year’s resolutions, either. “I never stick with them,” he said. “I don’t really make them any more.”

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Still, he knows what he’d like to see in 2025. “More happiness. I feel like the world needs more of that.”

At the Outlet Mall in Williamsburg, Zach Reynolds, of Galesburg, Illinois, shopped with his aunt, Patty Nixon, her son Robby, and Reynolds’ uncle, Steve Stroops.

Reynolds said his family doesn’t make New Year’s resolutions. “You hear about it every year,” he said, but he’s not personally involved in the tradition.

Stroops said the resolutions people make don’t usually last long. People typically resolve to lose weight in the new year, he said, “but it don’t last but a week.”

Also at the mall the day after Christmas were Susan Anderson, of North Liberty, and her 25-year-old son, Keyes. While Keyes is fine with his life the way it is, Susan has resolved to exercise more, eat better and drink less in the new year.

“Just mainly getting healthier,” Susan said. “Putting good fuel in my body.”

Susan’s new commitment comes after seeing her sister die of brain cancer in May at the age of 54. She knows she needs to get healthier, she said.

An old tradition

The ancient Babylonians are said to have been the first people to make New Year’s resolutions, according to History.com. They held the first recorded celebrations in honor of the new year 4,000 years ago, though the new year began in mid March for them, not in January.

According to Almanac.com, medieval knights renewed their vows of chivalry by placing their hands on peacocks. The annual “Peacock Vow” would take place at the end of the year as a resolution to maintain their knightly values.

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For early Christians, the first day of the new year became a time to think about past mistakes and resolve to do better, History.com says. In 1740, the English clergyman John Wesley, founder of Methodism, created the Covenant Renewal Service, most commonly held on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.

An article in a Boston newspaper in 1813 is thought to contain the first recorded use of the phrase “New Year resolution.” According to the article, “ … there are multitudes of people, accustomed to receive injunctions of new year resolutions, who will sin all the month of December, with a serious determination of beginning the new year with new resolutions and new behavior, and with the full belief that they shall thus expiate and wipe away all their former faults.”

New Year’s resolutions today usually focus on self-improvement, History.com said. According to recent research, as many as 45% of Americans say they usually make New Year’s resolutions, but only 8% keep them.

From last century to this century, many resolutions remain the same: save money, lose weight, stop smoking. Other resolutions, such as controlling one’s temper and falling in love, belong to their own eras.

Resolutions From 1947 — Gallup Poll

1. Improve my disposition, be more understanding, control my temper

2. Improve my character, live a better life

3. Stop smoking, smoke less

4. Save more money

5. Stop drinking, drink less

6. Be more religious, go to church more often

7. Be more efficient and do a better job

8. Take better care of my health

9. Take a greater part in home life

10. Lose (or gain) weight

Today’s Resolutions

1. Lose weight

2. Get organized

3. Spend less, save more

4. Enjoy life to the fullest

5. Stay fit and healthy

6. Learn something exciting

7. Quit smoking

8. Help others fulfill their dreams

9. Fall in love

10. Spend more time with family