You just said hello to 2015, but you can say goodbye to your resolutions. So it’s been four months since New Year’s and you haven’t found a new mind-blowing job, you didn’t have a bae by Valentines, and your vow to stop being a couch potato went out the window when the Bachelor premiered. Yay for resolutions that vanish like last year’s trends. But guess what? You don’t suck and you’re not a failure (coming from the girl who’s half typing/half watching the Bieber roast again on Youtube). Here’s a reminder about what making resolutions is really all about and a little insight as to what resolutions are ultimately made for.
If you’re like most “new year, new me” girls bracing 2015 with promises of fresh outlooks and better diets, just know that it’s not how well or how quickly you complete your laundry list of tasks that defines how great your new year is going to be. In fact, the pressure you put on yourself to be better can do just the opposite and take away from the awesome you you already are! As Coco Chanel said, “Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.” Thinking I will lose that holiday weight by spring break is perfectly fine, but thinking that because you didn’t do it in time makes you any less of a great person is just downright wrong. New year, new me should mean just that – not new year, new me but… first let me get a killer bod, land that remarkable internship, finish my DIY projects, etc. Those things aren’t all it takes to be a better you. You can be great every second of the day, every day of the year.
Somewhere along the line the logic breaks down. There shouldn’t be an “if” factor when the ultimate goal is to improve yourself or your life through your resolutions. If you’ve found a quarter of the way through this new year that making your goals a reality has become a nuisance, you’re missing the point. It may be unorthodox, but ditch your resolutions and trade them for one simple ambition: loving yourself no matter what. With summer quickly approaching, it’s time for us girls to take back what we’re entitled to no matter how we look: our sense of pride. Look back at what you’ve accomplished in the past few months with one question: has it made you better? If you answered yes, no matter how incrementally small the measure of bettering yourself has been, be proud! You’ve almost completed a year in college (if it’s your first, congrats! If not, there is a light at the end of the tunnel) and that’s reason enough to celebrate. Whether you’ve managed to make it to every yoga class for a month or binged on the newly released flavor of Oreos (red velvet – they’re to die for) in one sitting, it’s not too late to embrace the new year one step at a time, one success at a time. The best way to make it to year’s end and proudly reflect on your calendar year, is to accept the things that you cannot change, work on the things you can, and love the things you never want to change about yourself. Only then can you create and uphold realistic resolutions, or goals if you will, for the next New Year, having learned the importance of maintaining a healthy spirit.