New year, new you?

It's a new year, new start and all that, so I've whipped up this new year-related vox pop with the hope of getting it published in The National Student this week. A great deal of my friends have helped me out with this so thank you, and my apologies if I have chopped and changed, or added bits here and there - but that's what us wannabee editors do! Hope you enjoy the read:

New year, new you?

The time for change is upon us once again, and as we enter into the New Year, many of us will bow to the age-old tradition of allocating ourselves a New Year’s resolution to kick start our lives in 2011.

There are always the traditional pledges to get fit, lose weight, stop smoking etc etc, but this year we students are going all out to bring some new dynamics into our lives.

Russell Fletcher, 25 and a post-graduate Music Industries student, has set himself the unusual task of being more decisive this year. He says:

“I’ve been notoriously indecisive in the past. I’m tired of always regretting not acting on impulses and letting things get away from me. This year there will be no more saying ‘Um, I’m not sure’ when I’m asked a question... I’m aiming to start taking hold of things and making them a reality.”

The idea of changing your attitude to life seems to be a popular choice with many students this year, as Heather Bradbury, aged 20 and a Jewellery Design student at Birmingham City University, has decided that she needs to be more positive in 2011:

“Last year I gave up chocolate until Easter, but this year the thought of giving up something so materialistic isn't much of a challenge, and I don’t think I’d get much out of giving up something like that again. I wanted to do something that would be more beneficial to my life, so my resolution is to be more positive this year, as I'm quite a cynical person really and I want to break the habit. If I think more positive, then I'll be positive. Or that’s the theory anyway!”

Manish Patel, 21 and a Media and Communication student at Birmingham City University, is aiming to change his life this year by doing one new thing each month. He says:

“My New Years Resolution is to make 2011 a year to remember for the rest of my life. I’d like to start small and work it up to something big by the end of the year. If I can start by graduating Uni with at least a 2:1 grade, then that would be perfect. “

26-year-old Andrew Spurrell, a Sound Technology student at Wolverhampton University, is a tad forgetful and wants to do more for his family in 2011:

“I have lots of brothers, sisters, their partners and nieces and nephews to please. I've always been rubbish at remembering birthdays and sending cards so my new years resolution is to be a more considerate sibling and uncle and remember (or write down!) important dates.”

Rachael Giaramita, 24 and a Journalism student at Birmingham City University, has gone for all the traditional getting healthy, eating more fruit, doing well at university pledges – apart from one:

“I need to get better at returning phone calls. People phone me, I miss it and then I never get round to phoning them back. It must seem like I’m ignoring them or something, but I’m just bad at returning my calls!”

Not every student is so drawn in to the yearly tradition of setting yourself new goals for the year to come, as 21-year-old Luke Jerromes – a Film Studies student at the University of Gloucestershire – claims that these resolutions never last for people because they wouldn’t have normally set these goals if there wasn’t such a thing as New Years resolutions in the first place. He says:

“I would like to think my life is dynamic enough to not have stagnated to the point that once a 'year' it's time to assess my life and then make some token gesture at trying to change things. By all means set goals in life. I have those, and then have a timeframe by which to achieve them - but other than that, I can’t understand setting yourself a goal you otherwise wouldn't have set yourself, it’s just odd!”

Luke says that although he doesn’t have any New Years Resolutions, he does have goals which he would like to achieve this year:

“I have the aim of getting a sketch I've written onto the TV, making at least one film I'm proud of and I want to appear in at least one TV or Film which I didn't personally create. That and I want see Metallica again, but that’s less of a goal, and more a burning desire...”

So, maybe it’s time to ask yourself the big question: What would you like to achieve in 2011?