Sophie Halm, Editor-in-Chief
eSomethin staff
With a new year comes the obvious…New Year’s resolutions. People all over the world decide to give self-betterment a try, pin-pointing specific revisions to make on their lifestyle. Whether it be goals and aspirations or breaking bad habits, New Year’s resolutions are a healthy way to aim for self-improvement.
According to a survey conducted by Forbes Health, the average New Year’s resolution lasts 3.74 months. Unfortunately, by April, most resolutions are dropped. This poses the question if New Year’s resolutions are worth it.
This year, what Gen Z is deeming the “Big ‘26,” typical New Year’s resolutions have been taken to a whole new level: viral. On TikTok, a new social media trend has arisen and is becoming widely known as the “2026 Rebrand.” Within this trend, people are creating their own personal twists on their resolutions, and are rebranding their lives as if they are big projects.
McKenna Biami is a senior at PHS whose For You Page on TikTok is full of 2026 Rebrand videos. She said, “I feel like the wording of using ‘rebrand’ instead of ‘resolution’ really got people excited again. I feel like the word rebrand is more of an overall self improvement and resolution was kind of a single goal. I feel like it’s more motivating.”
Some people are making vision boards on Pinterest, while others are getting crafty. These projects can mean something symbolic or personal, and the amount of individualism within their choices is prominent.
A TikTok user by the name of Tamara accidentally became the one of first memes of 2026, and it all was centralized around the 2026 Rebrand. On one woman’s TikTok about the Rebrand, Tamara commented that she would be using 365 buttons as a symbol of time. Unfortunately, many users did not understand her idea. However, Tamara did not feel the need to explain herself. Rather, she posted the soon-to-be-iconic comment: “hey so it actually only has to make sense to me for me to do it and I don’t feel like explaining it to anyone else,” shutting down the questions and immediately becoming iconic.
Tamara’s mic-drop comment was instantly edited to Charli XCX’s Brat aesthetic, going viral and appearing in comment sections all over TikTok. It was even featured on Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” on the January 17th episode. Her comment was “brat,” meaning iconic and unapologetically herself. Not only was this TikTok user ready to rebrand her 2026, but she was doing it solely for herself. Although this rebrand came from a circulating social media trend, people are implementing their own uniqueness to it. Most trends spark similarity amongst others, but this trend is rather unifying everyone’s different perspectives and ideas.
With all the different crafts and ideas people are using for their new year, one stands out: a punch card. Biami explained, “I think I’m taking it a lot more seriously because of the punch cards. The way I’m using my punch cards is – I’m giving myself a little prize at the end if I complete so many punches…I think I will stick to my resolutions as long as I still want the prize at the end that I put. I’m gonna try and [use] higher priced items so I actually want to complete the goals.”
This trend has even reached the TikTok feeds of teachers at PHS. American History and Psychology teacher Heather Westrick said, “I love the punch card idea and yeah, I like rebranding. I feel like it’s ‘New Year,’ not ‘new you,’ but ‘New Year, better you.’”
There are so many new ways to motivate the completion of New Year’s resolutions, especially with the boost from the Rebrand. However, aside from the viral trend, these resolutions contain layers of importance to each person.
Robbie Zhang, a junior at PHS, has resolutions to continue working hard in school, being happier, and staying active. These may seem typical from the outside-looking-in, but to him, these goals have importance. For Robbie, he holds these resolutions because he wants success in his future in college and he values mental health.
Biami, being a senior in her last semester, recognized that big changes are ahead. “I feel like now is a good time to work on our rebrand just because so much is gonna change next year, that it’s good that I start working on these habits now,” she explained.
As a teacher and a mom, Westrick has taken a headstart on her resolutions with her family. She started working on her resolutions with her sons over winter break when they had more quality time to be together. Westrick described it as more of a “winter solstice resolution” as opposed to a New Year’s resolution.
With the Rebrand on the uprise, to some, 2026 may be their year to finally achieve a resolution. To others, the Rebrand is just a trend. Biami thinks that this year is the year to finally take advantage of resolutions and said, “I feel like I have so much more motivation personally, and on social media, I’ve been seeing a lot more motivation in other people too.”
Zhang does not feel the same personally, but he feels it varies from person-to-person. However, from a global perspective on this, he said, “There’s a lot of things going wrong in the world that people need to come together for.”
Trendy or not, resolutions exist as open opportunities for self-improvement. The 2026 Rebrand has heightened the popularity of the resolution idea and its virality could possibly show an influx of completed resolutions by the end of the year. However, the year is still fresh and only time will tell.
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