Every year, around the time New Year's rolls around, we start over. We promise to exercise more, to be nicer to those around us, to eat healthier. We vow to read 50 new books before the next year approaches. We promise to spend more time with those who fill our hearts with joy. But why does January 1 have to be the day that we start over. What if we just actually did the things we wanted to change in our lives daily, instead of waiting for January 1?
Maybe you really want to do something we've always wanted to do. Maybe you dream of changing your majors to something that really sets your heart on fire? Maybe you decide to finally take that trip to Europe you've been dying to take? Maybe it's just telling someone how you really feel? We hold on to these feelings because we're basically wired to believe that January 1 is the day that everything starts fresh. It's a universal refresh day for everyone. A chance to start over and forget the past.
Here's a thought: Let's just do it every day instead. Waiting for one day a year is exhausting. To be perfectly honest, waiting itself is exhausting. Why don't we just live our lives doing what we want to do now? If you hate your major, why not just change it to something you are passionate about? If you think that cute boy in your sociology class is cute, ask him to hang out instead of waiting on these feelings? We don't need a date to tell us when we should be able to "restart." It should be whenever we freaking want, and without reason, too.
Personally, I really took this idea to heart this past summer. After months of only "liking" my major, I knew that I wanted to do something that I absolutely loved with my life. I didn't want to dread having to wake up the next morning going to work. It was in that moment that I really asked myself what I loved doing and what made me feel happy. Immediately, I thought of my summers of working at camp. Working with kids was something that I was so happy doing, so why was I so insistent on my current strategic communications degree? I had to take a leap of faith, but man was it worth it! I haven't been this happy in a while, because I'm finally doing what I love. I'm taking classes that I'm actually interested in, and I know I fit in well with.
I believe that's the only way we should be living our lives. Not based on what one person says or what a group of people does, but by the way we like to live it. You are the only person that matters. I'm going to end on one of my favorite F. Scott Fitzgerald quotes, and it is honestly how I live my life. I hope you have the courage to change your life in any way that suits you, and not just on January 1.