I’m not a selfish person. In fact, I’m the opposite. I spend my life in a routine where I always do what I can to make other people happy and to guarantee that I can put a smile on someone else’s face. However, I decided early on in 2016 (unconsciously) that this year was going to be a year that I was going to be selfish. 2016 became the year that I, Kjersten Piper, put the effort into putting myself first sometimes and to make time for things that make me stupidly, blissfully happy.
Your own personal happiness is the most important thing in your life. Yes, family, friends, education, love, and all of your other values are things that need to remain constantly cared for in your lifetime. However, I don’t think that any of that matters if you’re not satisfied with yourself and how you’re living your life. Negativity and bitterness will only weigh you down. They will constantly diminish you from all of the amazingly wonderful things that you can accomplish and experience. Worst of all, they’ll destroy your potential and motivation. And who wants to live their life like that?
So, here, my friends, are the things that I did in 2016 in order to make myself live my happiest life.
I started a blog.
Blogging isn’t for everyone. Hey, writing isn’t even for everyone. But for me, writing, sharing my opinions, and using my voice are truly important to me. For those who don’t know me, I’m a notorious bookworm. I am so passionate about literature (beyond what you could imagine) and I wanted to share that love with the world. So, I chose in January 2016 to start, you guessed it, a book blog. In the last year, my blog daydreams and night reads has become my second home. It’s a place where I can openly share my opinions about books, fandoms, fictional boyfriends, and all of the other beauty of fictional words with others who feel similarly. Having a platform like a blog where I have the freedom to express my opinions about something I’m truly passionate about is such a safe haven for me. Creating and writing for my blog is definitely one of my highlights of 2016!
I joined a gym (and actually used my membership).
I’m not an athletic person. At all. Occasionally, a couple of summers ago I would tag along with my mom when she would have appointments with her personal trainer, but beyond that, I rarely exercise. At least that was the case for 19 of my 20 years on this planet. However, this summer in particular, I chose that I was going to start living a healthier life. In late June I finally got up the courage to walk into my local gym and sign up for a membership and it totally changed my outlook on physical exercise. I’m going to sound like every other person who adopts an exercise routine when I say, “Seeing results is so motivating!” but it really is. I started to gain some muscle, tone my body, and feel happier overall. I’m obviously not the most intense person you’ll find at the gym and my workouts rarely exceed an hour, but hey! It’s more than I was doing last year!
I crossed books off of my TBR list.
Okay, so back to the whole bookworm thing. “TBR list” means “to-be-read list” and most book lovers have one (even if they aren’t keeping track of it). My TBR pile is horrendously big. At my current reading pace with juggling class, work, a somewhat social life, and catching a healthy amount of Z’s at night (hopefully!) it would probably take me somewhere around six years to polish off all the books on my pile. This year, I decided I was finally going to get to some of those books I’ve been dying to read forever. I am proud to say that I accepting the GoodReads Reading Challenge this year and challenged myself to read 30 personal reading books in 2016 (I decided I was not going to include the books that I read for school because English majors read a lot if you didn’t know) and GUESS WHAT?! So far I’ve read 38 personal reading books in 2016! And I know that sounds crazy, because who the heck has time to read that many books when they’re a full-time college student? Yet somehow I managed it, and I am ecstatic about the progress that I made.
I dreamt big.
Everyone always tells you to dream big as a kid, however, when you get to be a junior in college, society expects you to set aside those glorious, unbelievable goals you wish to accomplish and be more realistic. THAT’S NOT FAIR. We should all be able to shamelessly set our sights on the most spectacular of goals without others constantly nagging us that “it’ll never happen”. My philosophy is that if you can dream it, you can do it. Sure, that may be overly optimistic but what can I say? Optimism makes my world go around.
I am so tired of people telling me that I can’t do the things that I want to achieve in my lifetime. I am tired of people telling me that I will never get a job with my English major. I am tired of people telling me that I need a back-up plan if I can’t get a job in publishing. Just stop with the negativity already, world! To spite this, I’ve spent this year proud of my English major. And just to prove this big ol’ world wrong, I applied for my dream internship in publishing this year. I don’t want a back-up plan and I don’t want to be “realistic”, whatever that means. I’m going to make my dreams reality, no matter what anyone else has to say about it.
I started making time for myself.
I learned this year the importance of saying “no”. It’s okay to say no to plans. It’s okay to say no to responsibilities that you do not want. It’s okay to spend a Friday night in your dorm room, order yourself a Domino’s, and watch a cheesy romantic comedy. IT IS OKAY. I’m a “yes” person. Often I’ll say yes to opportunities that I don’t even want to take. This year, that philosophy just wasn’t working for me anymore. I realized that I needed to start saying no. No, I don’t want to hang out with you tonight. No, I don’t want to accept another leadership position. No, I don’t have time to do the entire group project myself. By making the conscious decision to reject certain offers and opportunities, I started to see my desires and myself more clearly. When I started saying “yes” to only the things that I truly care about, the things that I truly have time for, and the people I truly want to spend time with, I started to feel a lot less stressed and was able to enjoy the commitments and relationships I am passionate about that much more.