New year, new editor, New Year’s resolutions

Amanda Siefken Opinion Editor

Let’s see, my name is Amanda Siefken, I am a junior political science major, getting minors in English and management. Now that  The Collegian version of class introductions is complete: I am the new Opinion Editor of The Collegian and I am very excited to be taking on this role.

I have written for The Collegian for the past year on a wide variety of topics, including sports, nutrition, and Greek life, typically they were published on the opinion pages. With the opinion section this year, I am excited to bring many new opinions on a wide array of subjects.

Being from Colorado originally, I am a die-hard Broncos fan. I also cheer on the Boston Red Sox when football is not in season. I am a member of Alpha Xi Delta here on campus, so I also bring a typical sorority girl opinion to a few things. I hope to be able to bring these opinions written personally, as well as from other opinion writers into the hands of Collegian readers, while still upholding respect for the many other, and possibly different opinions here on and off of campus.

Intriguing, sassy and optimistic, are all characteristics I hope to bring to this section this semester. Everyone has a different opinion when it comes to different topics, and I am eager to get different views expressed and shared with The Collegian community. I hope that readers feel like they can somehow relate to some of the views written in this section, and if not, they can feel free to submit a column or letter to the editor for publication.

To start off the semester, I would like to bring up the idea of New Years Resolutions. Who first invented this idea? Who thought this would actually work? I was asked at work over the holiday break what my resolution was going to be, but I thought that calling this trend absurd, was not what the customer was really asking for, so I retorted the generic “Oh, I am not sure yet, what is yours?” Of course the response every time was to either save money, lose weight, become healthier or something else stereotypical.

It seems like every year people make these new resolutions to be a better version of themselves. If you couldn’t do it in 2013, what makes us think that we can do it in 2014? Starting off the New Year with a goal is a great idea, and I agree with whoever thought of this resolution phenomenon, but I think that the mentality behind it needs a little tweaking.

This year I made a resolution, which may seem shocking after the little rant that I went on, but I did not make a resolution like many other Americans did, I made a resolution to say “thank you” more. This is something that I believe everyone struggles with and I know that the people in my life deserve to hear these two words much more often than they do.

While I fully support the idea of making a decision to try and better your life, small things like showing a little more respect or being more grateful are much more realistic than committing to going to the gym everyday, buying a super expensive gym pass, with new shoes and work out clothes, then failing and just wearing your new clothes as lounge clothes at home.

My advice? Save the money and the disappointment of making a huge unrealistic New Years resolution and choose something that will better the lives of the people around you, as well as bettering yourself. Say “thank you” more, or pick something else, but put other people before yourself and be realistic. Telling someone thank you, could brighten their whole day, but I promise, no one benefits from the diet and resolution breaking purchase of Oreos from Wal-Mart at 11 p.m. on a Tuesday. Making a difference, while not completely changing the way you live your everyday life, might just be what it takes to actually stick to your resolution, and for the first time, not break it before the middle of January.

 

Amanda Siefken is majoring in political science. She can be reached at [email protected]