New Year’s Eve, for as long as I can remember, has been one of my favorite holidays. Blame it on my overly sentimental heart, but I love the concept of starting over. Heck, I get excited to switch the calendar at the beginning of every month, so New Year’s Eve is all those calendar changes rolled into one giant celebration. Every year, though, as I am overflowing with joy of said holiday, I hear my fellow peers grumbling about New Year’s Resolutions. To those of you who argue against them, I hear you out. You shouldn’t need a special holiday to attempt to better yourself as a person. But like I said, this is my holiday, and I have to defend it.
To avoid conflicts, I wrote a list of what I call “New Goals.” They’re hardly resolutions; I simply view them as reminders of how to be a better person. This list contains 33 brief snippets of thoughts, and while some of them are completely specified to my life (#22. Stop being afraid of bees) I realized that a majority of them are applicable for everyone—and not just at a New Year.
“Be More Spontaneous.” As I’ve now settled back into my quiet dorm room, I’ve realized I am seemingly trapped on a campus with no car and no ability to get anywhere my legs can’t take me. It would be incredibly easy to fall into the routine of schoolwork, activities, friends, repeat. But I think life is too wonderful to be spent in routine. This year, I’m embracing the spontaneous road trips to nowhere. Who says adventure can’t happen at 3 am on a Tuesday?
“Forgive and love everybody. No matter what.” This one can be tricky. There will always be people in your life that hurt you. You will trust the bad guy, your heart will get broken, and sometimes people will simply let you down. And in moments like those you have two choices: You can hold a grudge and be bitter for the rest of your life, or you can let go. That doesn’t make you a lesser person; it simply means you were strong enough to move on.
“Use your imagination. Dream big, crazy, wonderful dreams. Make them happen.” I think many of us, myself especially, fall under the spell of dreams. It is great to have dreams and goals and aspirations. It is even better to make them happen. I often find myself coming up with grand ideas, and then doubting in my ability to complete them. You can spend forever pushing your dreams off until “a better time.” But what better time is there than today?
“Don’t be judgmental.” I feel as though this should be a rule for being a human being, but how quickly do so many of us forget this simple task. I won’t sit here writing and try to tell you I have never made a snap shot judgment of a person, but I can assure you that anytime I did, I regretted it. Everybody has a story and everybody is interesting, but more importantly then that, if you keep an open mind, you can learn a lot from everybody you come in contact with.
“Smile. A lot.” This one is self-explanatory. I just think if we all smiled a little bit more, the world would be a more beautiful place.
Love always,
Liz
