BY HILLARY KELLEY, FEATURES EDITOR

A fresh, blank sheet of paper slowly fills with a list of resolutions for New Year’s and strikethroughs narrow down the choices.

By the end of the year, most lists of resolutions have become entirely erased as the struggle to keep the resolutions proves harder than previously thought.

The number one resolution made in America revolves around weight loss, according to a statistical study by the Journal of Clinical Psychology from the University of Scranton.

“I’ve tried losing weight before, [but] it lasts all of about a week,” said sophomore English major Catherine Moore.

Still, she persists and has resolved to commit to her goals this year by being more proactive than in years past.

On the other hand, many people have given up on making resolutions at all.

“I am horrible at commitments, so I didn’t make a concrete resolution because I don’t believe I can keep it,” said junior English major Haley Talley.

Whether students keep their resolutions for a week, a month or the entire year, the benefits can be extremely rewarding, but the struggle is also real.

As for deciding what goals to try and accomplish as part of New Years resolutions, Moore said, “The only one you should be doing it for is you.”

Senior criminal justice major Virginia Walton is another student who doesn’t make resolutions as she has seen that they rarely last.

“I just try to get through what life brings, enjoy the little things and be as happy as I can be,” said Walton.

Whether or not a person will keep their resolutions may involve the practicality of the goal, or even just the demands of everyday life.

With 11 months to go in this new year of 2014, only time will tell what resolutions are kept, which ones are already lost and which ones will stick until they are left in the dust and chosen again to try to accomplish the very next year.