--- ---  # The New Year's Resolution to Make When Everything Feels Out of Your Control ## Video: TIME Covers of 2021: The Year Inside the Red Border [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Covers of 2021: The Year Inside the Red Border](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zZq2Xa5Z.m3u8) (6:44)  _Published 2021-12-13. A look back at covers published from a tumultuous year._ by [Aubrey Hirsch](https://time.com/author/aubrey-hirsch/) ## Aubrey Hirsch Dec 20, 2021 12:00 PM UTC  Illustration By Aubrey Hirsch for TIME by [Aubrey Hirsch](https://time.com/author/aubrey-hirsch/) ## Aubrey Hirsch Dec 20, 2021 12:00 PM UTC The end of the year is traditionally a time for reflecting on lessons learned from the past 12 months and looking to the future with optimism. [New Year’s resolutions](https://time.com/4151909/new-year-2016-resolutions/) offer us a chance to identify specific ways we can improve our lives and make concrete changes for the better. But for many of us, 2021 had more lowlights than highlights with the [pandemic still raging](https://time.com/6124436/omicron-vaccine-inequity/), [women’s rights being rolled back](https://time.com/6101739/abortion-access-alabama/), a terrifying climate report from the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change](https://time.com/6088618/ipcc-climate-change-ar6/), and the [economy still not working for many Americans](https://time.com/6126957/expanded-child-tax-credit-expiring/). It’s hard to lay down a path toward a better future when so much of what’s wrong with your present is out of your control. But perhaps we can find some motivation in helping to improve the lives of others, while working toward bigger changes where and when we can.          --- ### More from TIME --- Make a New Year's Resolution to Help Others in 2022 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6125635/new-years-resolution-2022-help-others/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6125635/new-years-resolution-2022-help-others/"},"headline":"The New Year's Resolution to Make When Everything Feels Out of Your Control","datePublished":"2021-12-20T12:00:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-01T06:57:42.031Z","description":"In this comic, Aubrey Hirsch shows how hard it is to make a New Year's resolution when so many of life's biggest problems feel out of your control and suggests finding a way to improve someone else's life.","url":"https://time.com/6125635/new-years-resolution-2022-help-others/","keywords":["society","freelance","feature","nationpod"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ce22e068f451525/698a20a74ee2621456319b5b/New-YearsHeader.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aubrey Hirsch","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aubrey-hirsch/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ce22e068f451525/698a20a74ee2621456319b5b/New-YearsHeader.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"New-YearsHeader","caption":"","creditText":"Illustration By Aubrey Hirsch for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/society/","name":"society"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6125635/new-years-resolution-2022-help-others/","name":"The New Year's Resolution to Make When Everything Feels Out of Your Control"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Covers of 2021: The Year Inside the Red Border","description":"A look back at covers published from a tumultuous year.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/zZq2Xa5Z/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2021-12-13T12:52:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zZq2Xa5Z.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6125635/new-years-resolution-2022-help-others/","duration":"PT6M44S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6125635/new-years-resolution-2022-help-others/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```