I don’t know about you, but I was not feeling 2022! Last year was not the most eventful and I am accepting that instead of seeing it as a personal failure. Possibly it was a difficult year for all of us in many different ways: we said goodbye to many beloved pop culture icons, dealt with the usual stressors of college, struggled with navigating a new world without COVID-19 restrictions, witnessed frustrating U.S. political and legislative turmoil, and coped with the various traumatic, unfortunate events that unfolded almost daily in the news and media. After all that we struggled with this year as a country, as a planet, it is more than acceptable to feel like 2022 just wasn’t your year.
Spending 365 days witnessing lots of negative discourse among social media is discouraging. It still continues to make me feel hopeless and fearful for the future. As a member of Gen-Z, it was especially hard to cope with the world’s current environmental issues, and what will be left of our beautiful planet in the future.
On a better note, my main goal for 2023 is to bring a little light to people’s lives in whatever way possible. In this article, I will share my goals and positive implementations for this coming year.
- Marking my calendar
I am not sure why it took me 21 years to discover the beauty of a calendar, but it is very helpful for scatterbrains like myself. A calendar can take on many forms: a traditional paper 12-month calendar or a calendar app on your device. In my opinion, I have found that Google Calendar has been the most user-friendly. It is easily accessible and at my fingertips, I am alerted with a notification of my daily events, and I can color-code and organize my schedule in whatever way I desire. A calendar has been helpful to not forget my plans, accidentally sleep through class, or show up to an event at the incorrect time. Having any sort of planner is so important!
- Skin Care Routine
For a while now, I have not been keeping up with many self-care rituals. I strayed away from my usual twice-a-day skincare routine and my skin definitely felt the consequences of that. Though a skin care routine like mine is not necessary and different for all people, I have found that taking the time to put some effort into my appearance is very fulfilling for myself. Instead of feeling guilty for what I did not accomplish during the day, I feel refreshed when I perform my skin care routine. I have not been following this routine perfectly, but it is a nice, relaxing addition to the day.
- Hobbies
There are many potential options for what hobbies may look like for people. I have found that I enjoy hobbies related to arts and crafts quite a lot. Making jewelry and crocheting are often the hobbies that I like to hone in on because I can peacefully partake in them for hours. I become very engaged in activities like those because of the repetitiveness and it is very fulfilling to create a piece of art that I am proud of. The best part of creating arts and crafts is giving them to others!
- Exercise
It would be pretty unrealistic of me to create this article without highlighting the fact that I have not created a plan to exercise yet this year; it is a work in progress! Getting enough physical activity has been a huge struggle for me throughout the pandemic, as I went from being a busy student athlete in high school to COVID-19 isolation. Creating new structures for my own exercise has been hard because I have been used to partaking in organized sports for most of my life, and I did not know where to start on my own once I stopped doing sports. Physical activity has been shown to help improve brain health, reduce anxiety and depression, and contribute to overall mental and physical well-being, and I can see that it positively affects me when I am exercising. However, this task just feels like so much work to accomplish and comes with some anxiety, especially when going to the gym. This is something that I should start implementing for myself as it does have many benefits.
My plans for this year are tentative, there is no pressure to do them “correctly” or “perfectly” every day. I have found that when I set goals and do not perform them to the standard that I was hoping, I devalue the efforts that I made and end up hating myself. This year, my overall goal is to do what is healthiest, and that also means to not criticize myself for the efforts that I have made. Any effort is a good effort.
To whoever is reading this and feels like they can relate: do what is best for you! Everyone has their own unique set of struggles and what is helping me right now may not be effective for others. The National Institute of Mental Health is a great, credible resource for mental health information!