Jeremy groans as he lies down on his bed. December has ended. It is finally January 1st. The school is giving him and the rest of the students some time off, but Mrs. Timothy has assigned homework for today! He takes it out of his backpack, reluctantly. He hasn’t even looked at it yet. The page is about writing three new year’s resolutions. “Hmmmm…” Jeremy wonders, “I don’t know.”

He gets out his pencil and twirls it around his thumb. He stares at the page blankly. ‘A new year for a new me…’ he thinks. ‘What do I want to change?’

‘Get better grades’. Is the first thing he writes. 

‘Be nicer to classmates, family, and friends.’ He writes another. 

‘Eat healthier.’ Is the last thing on the page that he scribbles down. 

“Ugh, it’s finally done” Jememy throws himself back onto the bed. But suddenly he catches a twinkle out of the corner of his eye. He turns around to see a fairy staring straight at him. “Gaah!” He screams, jumping back and almost toppling off his bed. 

“Hush,” The fairy whispers, “I just need to tell you something.” Jeremy looks at the glowing pixie with interest, but also skepticism. “Oh, it will be better with magic,” She sighs, and before he knows it, Jeremy is tapped with the wand. He is whisked away into his own mind. He looks around.  It is an endless room, and there are tiny versions of himself, each with small differences. But all of them are either sitting down or lying down, and being extremely lazy and mean. Then he is teleported to his past self’s mind. He’s happy and at work, riding bikes, doing math, and getting everything he wanted to do all done. Jeremy realized that he never got anything done anymore. He always made plans, but never carried them out. He always wanted to change, but he never even tried. It is time that changed. He thinks to himself. That thought powers him, and he is soon full of energy and productivity. He decides that he needs to do more this year, and change the way his life is turning out. The fairy giggled, “I’m the fairy of New Year’s resolutions: Glinda. I’m glad I could help.” She says before twirling away and disappearing with a poof and a wink of the eye. Jeremy wants to improve his lifestyle choices. He starts writing down a ton of ideas. Then, he makes a plan of how to carry them out. 

After a while, Jeremy notices that a lot of his classmates are not trying to succeed at their New Year’s resolutions. While they are doing worse, Jeremy is getting better and better every day. He almost jumps for joy when he gets his first 100% for the year. His hard work pays off. Now he is a totally new person, and everyone likes him because he is always nice and hardworking. He is very healthy and happy. Thanks to the fairy, Jeremy has many friends, succeeds with all of his resolutions, and has a bright future. 

Citations: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-jewish-way-to-make-a-new-years-resolution/