Being that the first month of January is over, this is usually when all of the New Year Resolutions start to die off. I know this trend from personal experiences, tweets I have seen, and people around me. But, I want 2020 to be different (I know everyone says this too, but let me explain), it is the start of a new decade and a new approach for self -improvement, and change.
I have decided I will be able to measure more changes and improvement throughout the year by picking an overall theme I feel like I need to improve on. I tend to focus on a million things at once and lack taking a break from the craziness we all call life. Because of this, I have decided that the theme I am going to work on is balance. Now, this can be seen in many ways: balancing school with personal life, healthy living, student organizations, and academic load, and personal – social balance. These are just some of the sub-themes I am going to work on because they currently are the most prevalent in my life.
Now, for my plan of action to make sure I will achieve my improvement in this theme. For school-personal life balance, I am going to make an addition to what I write down in my planner. For those of you who do not know me, I use my planner religiously, and now I am going to plan out time in my day to relax, watch Netflix or even get a coffee for any amount of time I can, even if it is for an hour between classes. This may seem extra or unnecessary, but if it is not written down then it will not happen. Healthy living is something I always strive to work on, especially being a college student constantly in fear of gaining weight. To combat this, I am going to cook for myself the majority of the week using “whole” ingredients. What I mean by “whole” is vegetables and chicken, or pasta and salmon; more generally less prepared food and more self-prepared food. But do not fret, I love a good cheat meal on the weekend as much as the person reading this. Being involved on campus is a great way to meet people and develop a passion for something new in your life. Yes, we are all students first but it is also important to make an impact at your university as well. Also, I always tend to do better when I have more things to do because it makes the time I do have to work way more productive since the hours are limited. Finally, developing my personal – social balance. What I mean by personal – social is becoming more comfortable doing activities alone and not relying on others to do things with. We are all adults and if we want to do something, we should not have to wait around for someone to accompany us because that is an easy way to miss out on experiences because everyone is busy too. This is the one balance I anticipate being the most difficult for myself since I enjoy being around people I know all the time. But, I also feel like I will grow the most from this balance because it will create a whole new sense of independence that I need.
The great aspect of the approach of theme improvement instead of specific resolutions is that there will be no guilty feeling if something has to give because you can always work towards a theme no matter if the sub-goal changes. And, each theme leads to one overarching one: growth. Here’s to personal growth and improvement in 2020, and as they all say, you can only go up from here!