I have given up on New Year resolutions. I’ve always thought that if I truly felt there was something I needed to change or start doing, I would just do it. I wouldn’t wait until the clock struck midnight, nor would I title it a New Year resolution. While this is completely true to me, New Year resolutions are a marking of humanity’s true hope and the way we constantly strive to be better.

Throughout the year, it is clear that we all experience ups and downs. As we progress, we learn how to be critical of ourselves as a way to improve as people. While it isn’t necessarily thrilling to recall the lost interest in new hobbies or the hours wasted on our own mistakes and faults, it comes up every year. We think of the friends we have made and of the friends we have lost. We think about the memories we have made and the memories we have lost. Then, the clock strikes zero.

While it can feel incredibly insufferable when you get asked, “What is your New Year resolution?”, I think it must be said that our annual resolutions are a remarkable symbol of hope. Realistically, I am able to confront the fact that the wide majority of those who make resolutions normally do not end up continuing their declarations, probably after the first month or so.

How many people end up proclaiming to change an aspect of their life then never follow through? How many of us were once one of those people? Personally, I hold the belief it doesn’t matter if you make it to your goal. It is the fact that you tried.

The idea of a resolution is that an individual wants to improve his/her life in some sort of way, and this change will make the following year at least a little better in quality than the last. Whether that be spending more time outside, staying more organized, or committing to something outside of your comfort zone, choosing to take a bit more control of your narrative, or at least attempting to do so, is a sign that we continue to strive for the better.

As a year comes to an end, we gather with loved ones and celebrate what matters—another year and another fresh start with the people we love. These fresh starts show who we are as people, and even if you’re like me and don’t feel the desire to pursue one, harboring the idea of a fresh start with the New Year testifies to the genuine faith we have in progress and growth as individuals and as a whole.