One of the highlights of the holiday season is New Year’s Day, and with it comes the time for New Year’s resolutions. Whether it is hitting the gym everyday, spending less money on unnecessary items or simply complimenting others more, people should embrace New Year’s resolutions, despite certain criticisms the tradition faces.

The end of the December is naturally when many reflect on their actions and behaviors that year, which makes New Year’s Day a good time to act on those reflections and commit yourself to change. As holiday vacations wrap up, New Year’s Day brings out a refreshed version of `yourself, giving you the energy to commit to a new set of goals. For Coppell High School students, as well as many students around the nation, a new semester begins within a week of the year’s beginning, cleaning the slate for their class grades.

According to Forbes, more than 40 percent of Americans declare resolutions around Jan. 1, which means if you do the same, you will have an abundance of support surrounding you – many of your friends are likely to be striving toward their own resolutions. That support will push you to go on that run and to resist buying that expensive dress. According to the Science Daily, exercise companions increase people’s fitness; the same logic applies to a wide variety of resolutions.

Some may say these “impulsive” or “unrealistic” goals are pointless as they are far too likely to fail. Although statistically most New Year’s resolutions crumble by springtime, why does that mean the resolutions should not be made? The possibility of failure does not mean it hurts to try something. If you are determined to workout regularly for the entire year but begin fumbling halfway through March, what is the harm? At least you tried, and at least you exercised for those few months. If you had not made the goal, perhaps you would not have hit the gym at all.

And anyway, if you are truly perseverant, you can always be one of the people whose goals do not fail – generally, the success of your resolution is in your own control.

Others argue we should always be striving to improve ourselves, rather than only in January. While this is true, we can still choose to make concrete goals for the year on a specific day, while also bettering ourselves in general throughout the following months. Furthermore, there is no law that says you can only set goals once a year. If you desire, you can always reform your goals in the middle of July, or at any other time.

Making specific resolutions will lead to more success than aimlessly thinking “I want to be a better person”; making them at the beginning of the year, when you have a clean, new slate, will excite you for the coming months. When you have goals, you have something specific to strive for – something to hold yourself accountable against.

So, go ahead and buy that gym membership. Go ahead and sign up for guitar lessons. Go ahead and learn that language. You have the opportunity not just for a new year, but a better you.