New year, new me—it’s a time of fresh starts and new habits. What do you want to accomplish this year? Any new things you want to try? I asked this to 15 girls at UCLA and here’s what they told me, ranked from the most common to least:
- HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
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Whether it be exercising daily or eating healthier food, 2022 seems to be the year for healthier habits for UCLA girls.
“I want to make healthier choices for myself this year, specifically eating healthier food and not going out if I’m not in good condition or busy the next day.” — Una Sakaki, third-year sociology student.
“I want to exercise regularly… ideally three times a week!” — Patricia Cheng, second-year pre-computational and systems biology student.
“I want to sleep before 2 AM every day.” — Yuki Yu, second-year applied math student.
- improving RElationships
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Maintaining a healthy relationship with friends and family is an important part of your college life.
“I want to make new friends this year!” — Cat Lee, third-year biology student.
“I want to be a good daughter, granddaughter, and sister to my family in South Korea by making an effort to call them more often.” — Shannon Park, second-year political science student.
- Resetting mindsets
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New Year’s is the perfect time to change your mindset. Here are some new mindsets that college girls are trying to acquire:
“I’m too much of a perfectionist. I want to be less hard on myself this year, and be more accepting of my flaws and mistakes.” — Sohaila Rizk, first-year economics student.
“I want to enjoy the little things in life.” — Yuka Kozaki, third-year business-economics major.
“My resolution is to have more self-confidence!” — Sharon Hwang, second-year psychology student.
“I want to try new things this year.” — Hannah Hope, first-year undeclared student.
- time management
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Time management is something that I definitely struggled with last year. It’s important to figure out priorities and be as efficient as possible to get more done.
“This year, I want to figure out my priorities because there are so many new and interesting things in college now and I need to decide which ones to prioritize.” — Van Chan, first-year math-economics and religion double student.
“I want to set out to do whatever I plan to do and follow my intuitions.” — Karen Ho, second-year art student.
“I think my resolution would be to get better at time management because I want to spend more time on my hobbies without sacrificing my studies.” — Sarah Hernandez, second-year microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics (MIMG) student.
- academics
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As important as health and social life is, we come to college to study, after all. From learning languages to plans for graduate school, college girls seem to have a wide variety of academic goals this year.
“I want to focus on academics rather than social aspects this year. I hope to especially improve my Chinese!” — Haryn Shin, first-year cognitive science student.
- writing/arts
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Although the least common in the New Year’s resolutions for UCLA girls, creative writing/arts is an amazing skill and habit to keep to be able to express yourself. It includes journaling, writing stories/poems and even taking photos to capture the moment!
“I want to get involved in more creative writing this year. Last year, I only wrote once in a couple of days; this year, I want to write at least one poem a day.” — Dahlia Kirov, first-year psychobiology student.
“My resolution is to journal daily. I also want to take more pictures because life has been moving too fast—I want to stop and enjoy it and be able to look at how much I’ve changed.” — Tia Payne, first-year neuroscience student.
From a healthier lifestyle to a specific academic goal, it seems like we are set out to accomplish many things this year! I personally want to have a better work-life balance this year to spend quality time with my close friends while still being academically on track. Let’s try not to give up and keep our New Year’s resolutions until the end!