New Year’s resolutions are basically a horror story wrapped in glitter (but if they work for you, you and I are simply different people). On January 1st, the world expects you to suddenly become a better person. More motivated. More disciplined. Healthier. Happier. Somehow simultaneously organized and spiritually enlightened. And let’s not even begin to talk about how it’s freezing outside, or that your semester has barely started, and the exams are already lurking.
Personally, I don’t do resolutions.
This semester is long. It’s cold. There are a lot of exams. And at the end of it, another year will graduate – including one of my closest friends, or rather, the foundation of my support system here. Being at an international school means people are constantly leaving, and no one really prepares you for how emotionally exhausting that is.
You’re always adjusting, always bracing yourself for the next goodbye, while trying to keep up academically.
So instead of resolutions, I believe in something softer. A soft reset, if you will.
Because a soft reset doesn’t require reinventing yourself. It doesn’t need a new planner or a dramatic mindset shift. It’s quiet and low-pressure. It’s admitting you’re already tired and deciding not to make things harder than they need to be.
A soft reset might look like cleaning your desk without reorganizing your entire life. It might mean finally deleting the 348 unread emails you’re never going to respond to. It could be choosing one small, manageable habit – like going to bed just fifteen minutes earlier – and deciding that’s enough for now.
It might mean lowering the bar in ways that feel uncomfortable at first. Letting yourself aim for “good enough” instead of “perfect.” Accepting that some weeks are about survival, not self-improvement. Reminding yourself that showing up counts, even if you’re not showing up at your best. It could be unfollowing Instagram accounts that make you feel behind, or letting go of the idea that this semester needs to be “your best one yet.”
A soft reset can give you permission to move more slowly. To stop comparing how productive you are in January to how productive you were in September. To acknowledge that winter semesters hit differently, especially when the workload is heavy and the motivation is low.
Most importantly, it means protecting your energy more intentionally – saying no to things you don’t have the capacity for, even if they sound good in theory.
Burnout doesn’t always come from doing too much. Sometimes it comes from constantly expecting yourself to feel motivated and optimistic in the middle of winter during a demanding academic term.
A soft reset is choosing compassion over ambition – not forever, just for now. It’s trusting that rest doesn’t mean you’ve given up; it means you’re making space to keep going.
And maybe that’s enough. Maybe this semester doesn’t need a reinvention. Maybe it just needs you to be a little kinder to yourself as you get through it.