I decided that 2021 would be the year I took my life back, so I did. I quit my job of five years, ended a relationship that wasn’t going anywhere, decided to move back home to take classes online, and started going to therapy. We’re now hitting the one-year mark from when COVID-19 reared its ugly head and sent us on an endless spring break back home to our parent’s couch. Two weeks turned into two months, two months turned into two more months, and all of a sudden we’re at one year of hitting pause on our normal lives. We’ve been isolated, forced to get closer to our families than we ever thought, and got really comfortable sitting in our own thoughts. We learned to cope with a new reality and set goals for what we want for ourselves at the end of this– whenever that may be.
Taking my life back started with a list:
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Start going to the gym
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Clean my room once a week
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Work on my book for 1 hour a week
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Read something for myself for 1 hour a week
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Start hanging out with my best friend again
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Make more friends that add to your life and cut out those that subtract
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Create a list of standards to have and hold myself to when it comes to meeting S/O
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Limit screen time
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Do one nice thing a week for yourself
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Make an effort with your appearance most days
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Prioritize your mental health
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Start a new project
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Join a club
There’s something so exciting about reinventing yourself or finding your way back after getting a little lost. Going to the gym isn’t for everyone, especially with all the possibilities for self-depreciation that come with missing a day, or not seeing results. So maybe this list will evolve over time, maybe some of these commitments will feel unattainable, that’s okay. It’s impossible to reinvent yourself all at once, you’ll have bad days or even bad weeks. Accepting that you aren’t perfect, but you’re still trying is a part of the process.
I haven’t accomplished all the things on my list. I’m currently staring at the mess of my uncleaned room as I write this. That’s okay, but the things I have accomplished so far outweigh the goals I haven’t. I’m a new member of Her Campus, I started my own podcast, and I continue to go to therapy. I’ve made an attempt to put an effort into my appearance, even on the days where I don’t have anything besides Zoom classes. I started to go to the gym, I took myself on a date to the park, I reached out to an old friend.
Whatever your inspiration may be: a realization that graduation is just around the corner, a new year’s resolution, a breakup, any monumental ending is cause for a new beginning. Let that new beginning be one where you put yourself first, and take your life back.
*Edited: Isabelle Vogell.