New Year, Same Me

So there I was, a week and a half into the semester, already drowning in school work, feeling the anxiety slowly build up in my chest, and I had no clue what to write for my article. Fortunately, I got to write a blog this week, so I had a lot of freedom with what I could write.

I thought perhaps I could write about “How To Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions”. I couldn’t lie though, I didn’t think I had ever ‘kept’  a single new year’s resolution, so perhaps I was not the most qualified person to be giving advice.

During the winter break, I binged all six Bring It On movies on Netflix, so I thought I could rank them from best to worst. Unfortunately, Buzzfeed has already done numerous articles about Bring It On and other 2000s films, and I figured I should be different and cutting edge (even though I’m really not). 

Still not knowing what to write, I went back to a list of article ideas I made when I first joined Her Campus to see if any brilliant ideas were held there. I was very disappointed. The first idea read “The Horrors of Leacock 132”. Sure, Leacock 132 is a grand auditorium that first-years go to experience their first university classes, but I wasn’t sure it deserved an entire article nor was it that horrific.

I started to wonder why it was now 2019 and I still had trouble coming up with ideas for my articles. Isn’t the phrase “New Year, new me”? I was supposed to be better, more organized and certainly, more creative in the new year. I felt discouraged that this was my first article of the semester, and I didn’t have a single idea. An episode of Friends and good night’s sleep later, I realized that I have only been writing articles for Her Campus for a few months, and that people work for years to become proficient at this. I joined Her Campus because I loved writing in high school, and I wanted to gain experience writing articles as opposed to analytical essays. It being 2019 did not mean my article-writing skills could suddenly improve.

Just because it’s a new year, it does not mean change can happen immediately. People change gradually over time, by practicing skills, experiencing new things and easing in to new lifestyles. No one wakes up on the first day of 2019 and is able to attend the gym four times a week completing advanced workouts, cut out all sugar from their diet and become an expert in time management. Change is a process that occurs gradually throughout our lives. It’s important to make those goals and work hard to achieve them, but sometimes, our goals may take longer than a year to achieve. It is not about one year turning into the next and becoming a whole new person, it’s about striving to become better version of ourselves in the long run.

If you do make a New Year’s resolution, it is important to understand that it takes work and dedication. Depending on your goals, it may take months to years to get where you want to be. It may not happen in 2019, and it may not even happen in 2020, but if you work hard throughout your time at university and beyond, you can get there.

So for now, it’s a new year but it’s the same me, with average writing skills and fairly unimaginative article ideas. But I’m working on it, and with more time and experience, I will eventually improve.

P.S. My “Bring It On” rank is

1. Bring It On

2. Bring It On: All or Nothing

3. Bring It On: In It to Win It

4. Bring It On: Fight to the Finish

5. Bring It On Again

6. Bring It On: Worldwide #Cheersmack

… in case you were wondering (you probably weren’t)

Images obtained from: 

https://shes-frank.com/2016/03/31/being-a-hot-mess-is-trending/

https://pixabay.com/en/resolutions-2019-new-year-s-day-3889989/

https://annoyingrambles.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/bring-it-on-2.gif