As 2024 winds down to a close, the clock will soon strike midnight, heralding a new era into our lives. At least that’s what we’re hoping for, as students caught in the vicious quagmire of harried quiz prep, endless PoR meets, and twisted sleep cycles. New Year’s Eve warrants a look back at the year – at the laughter, memorable moments, and oof, the disappointments – along with a long, hard look into the mirror. This final eve of self-reflection resounds with the echoes of society telling you to be better, except now it’s you telling yourself it’s high time you up your game. Drumroll, please. Cue the New Year’s Resolutions for 2025. So, in true insti fashion, we whip out our notepads and put poetic dreams to paper. Scroll down to check out resolutions you’ve had or have or will have. Take a senior’s word for it.
I Challenge the Morning Sun to a Race and Win, 4 a.m Fodder
Of course, we’ve all considered turning into early birds at some point. Getting a head start to the year equals getting a head start to the day and staying ahead of the game. Away with the snoozed alarms and the skipped breakfasts, the resolve is to wake up with the Sun, if not before he beams through the cracks of the hostel window. No more missing half the day by waking up right in time for lunch; no, we blink back sleep and jump out of bed, determined to conquer the day and seize the morning life by its reins. We enjoy the break of dawn and click photos of sunrise with childlike eyes … for about a couple days, until late night hangouts become essential and sleeping in the morning becomes instrumental for survival. Next year, maybe!
Early to bed, early to rise
Makes an IIT-ian healthy, wealthy, and wise;
But shelve this goal into a distant loft –
For sleep beckons, my pillows oh-so-soft.
My Time to Play Size Zero or a Superhero, Cape optional
Once we’ve succumbed to the youth-enics of late nights and later mornings, we set our eyes on the next goal – becoming sculpted Vogue-worthy models. We’re waiting to be discovered, book us already! The ripped gym body which is entirely one gigantic block of muscle or that size zero model with an hourglass figure simply waits to be stepped into, right? Wrong. We realise that after hours of binge-watching training programmes and success stories about having the dream body and revolutionising life, downloading fitness apps, ingesting spinach salads, and chugging protein shakes instead of the beer we’re accustomed to. Well, the matter of the fact is that fad diets don’t fit neatly at all, when junk food is the fiber that holds social hangouts together. Back to the times when everyday’s a cheat day!
No snack? Gym membership back!
Health apps are unrealistic traps
CCD treats don’t help with calorie count,
It’ll be ages before, treadmills I mount.
Dazzle I do with Social Sparkle, All the World’s a Friend
Who cares about looks when your friends have your back? After saying hi to five folks in a campus with over 10,000 people, the cocooned caterpillars amongst us are determined to metamorphose into vibrant butterflies by shedding introvert skin and jiving with social groups of unnameable variety. But the age-old question of how to approach people lingers and we daringly sign up to attend events we end up running away from. We’re left with awkward eye contact with friend-acquaintances – seriously, how does one determine which is which, who makes all the rules that govern social interaction and what exactly are they?
I’ll whip out that charisma, leave everyone in a daze
A friend in every corner, gone are my loner days.
Alas, Solitude ages like fine wine
The only company I enjoy is mine!
A Straight S Whisperer that’s me, I’ll take 10.0 only
We now decide to pull an Alex Dunphy and declare, “You’re never alone when you have books.” Determined to shed off the old self that photocopies a friend’s notes hours before the exam and just about scrapes through by nailing the PYQs, we finally discover fresh study spaces and tour through the insides of the library to bag a spot. Soon enough, the realization dawns that the RGs are artists who earned their nerd glasses and sweat every drop of struggle to a golden CG. The first bench is readily abandoned, notebooks collect dust and proxies represent us in spirit, in absentia.
Gunning for the gold, a genius I’m soon to be
But handwritten notes and library hours just aren’t me
To survive the prof’s drone, I desperately need my phone
Life’s way more fun, here at the bottom of the study cone
On a Crusade to be a King/Queen of all Trades
Forget academic stardom when the low-hanging fruit of the best outgoing student award is tempting and surely within reach. Surrounded by multi-talented IITians who are jacks-of-all-trades wielding myriad skills, we’ve all been tempted to join the race to hobby hoard and discover our special gift. There’s gotta be one. Before we know it, we’ve signed up even for clubs that are unheard of and are found selflessly volunteering at events that approximately five people attend. We’re strumming guitar strings and practising martial arts at LTAP classes and joining NCA even if we’re past our freshie prime. We’ve PoR hogged for approximately a fortnight with brimming to-do lists until we realise that doing nothing is a skill in itself and that is the one we specialise in. Inter-IIT cult, tech and sports can always wait another year, right?
A (wo)man of culture, I’ll acquire skill,
Hoarding talent, here’s my new thrill!
Burnout crushes this visionary’s dream,
Perhaps one hobby is plenty or so it’d seem.
Philosophy is my Jam, Just Check my Instagram
Being an all-rounder can wait when self-discovery takes top priority. With motivational quotes burgeoning our insta feeds, and poignant self-discovery courses turning us into our zen versions, we can be found preaching about unconditionally accepting ourselves, relishing others, and breathing in the beauty and vitality of life. This unsustainable approach invites constant eye rolls and barely hidden smirks from friends and after becoming the butt of many a joke, we eventually realise that we should embrace our old selves because we miss our self-critical sass kebab inner monologue, realise that life isn’t rainbows and butterflies and that others aren’t always easy to love. Didn’t Buddha talk about brutal honesty in his philosophy? I’m pretty sure I read that somewhere.
Love thy self and your neighbour, it pays to be kind
Let your pure heart reign sovereign over the egotistical mind.
Christmas is done, I don’t need nice points from Santa’s elves
At least the sharp-tongued critics are their honest selves!
Eternally Seeking Lifelong Love, Ah I’m so Close
If self-love’s too much of an effort, one can always seek love outside. Tired of running into cute couples making out in our faces at insti’s hotspots, we are now resolved to be one half of an Instagram-worthy relationship. The dating apps have been downloaded; the five star salon has been visited, and the self has been reinvented – only to plunge into the face of poor endings to hookup propositions and wild rejections after painfully surviving awkward first date conversations. Suddenly, singledom, with the freedom and emotional stability it affords, has a newfound shine to it. Do all the heartbreaks have to happen one week before prom though? Well, relationships are tempting but a free-spirited unentangled youth life with fellow singles will do fine for the time being.
A new romantic’s in town whom Cupid’s arrow has hit
My heart’s open now, my love life’s gonna be lit
But I’ll blink back tears, handle Valentine’s Day with poise
Planning on telling people I’m single by choice.
It’s a running joke that New Year’s Resolutions aren’t here to stay. But whether you keep your resolutions or break them, the New Year is about heralding hope and the resolutions mirror your current reality, reflecting the gap between today’s actual self and the ideal self you hope to be tomorrow. Perhaps the trick is to find medium-sized resolutions that are exciting enough to get you out of bed but are sustainable and realistic enough to affect small changes throughout the year rather than drastic cold turkey transformation.
In the interest of having a good story to tell and making grand plans even if we spectacularly fail, dare to dream and jot down a few New Year’s Resolutions – it’s fun to aim for change and gun for novelty in life. Amidst laughing at your quirks and winking at your flaws, your resolutions are bound to provide endless entertainment, and who knows, perhaps in the corner of the page you’ll stumble upon a dream that actually manifests. Even if your resolutions crumble just like your determination to get to 8 a.m. classes, take lite. Embrace the chaos of sky high dreams, funny fumbles and taking insti life one day at a time. I’ll check in to see how it’s going, come next year.
Here’s T5E wishing you all a Happy New Year!
Edited by Shreya .S. Ramanujam
