According to Urban Dictionary, a gypsy soul is "... A person prone to wandering. They can't seem to stay put."

Again according to Urban Dictionary, an old soul is "A spiritual person whom is wise beyond their years; people of strong emotional stability. Basically, someone whom has more understanding of the world around them."

Lots of people my age flock to Twitter and gush about how all they want to do is drop everything, travel and explore the world. They say they have "gypsy souls" when they spend 99% of their free time watching Netflix. They say they have "old souls" because they like to post about all the greats we lost in 2016, when I bet half of them who tweet such things couldn't name a single movie Debbie Reynolds starred in, apart from Halloweentown. Rest assured great friends of the Odyssey, I'm not writing this pessimism because I think that everyone else my age is completely incompetent. I'm writing these things because if you've found that you are one of the guilty who claim to love traveling and adventure when all you do is watch Grey's Anatomy until 2 am, or if you falsely claim that you know more about the world and its cultural history than you actually do, I urge you to stop and genuinely reflect on what your life really consists of. Our generation lacks authenticity, which is very important in character, and a solid, good character is a rare gem to come across these days, though it is so very pivotal to have.

My challenge for you in this new year is to try harder to live. Go out of your way to be productive, set goals for yourself, and build the bridges and set the paths for yourself to follow so that you may see those dreams and goals come to fruition. Put any negativity behind you from previous years and put your best foot forward in 2017. Be present every day. Try harder in school and study more, email your professors when you have questions and be undeniably determined to do well in every class you take. Find more time to sleep and exercise and spend less time on social media. Apply for studying abroad programs and see where it takes you. Travel more, join a new organization on campus and explore the city you currently live in more, because I guarantee there's more to it than you think. Force yourself to see the positive in every situation, because things could always be worse than it actually is. I urge you to fight for what you want, rather, WORK for the life you want, push for the things you believe in and don't just sit back and watch the world take place around you while you witness it all through the screen of your phone.

As we begin the 2017 New Year I encourage everyone to be authentically themselves. Find what it is that you want and go after it, let nothing stand in your way of happiness and success. Grow as a person and find out who you are and what you want in life. Everyone might not be an old soul or a gypsy soul, but everyone is something. Be the kind of soul you want to meet at a coffee shop and have a conversation with. You are one year older and wiser than this time last year, use the new knowledge you've gained from 2016 and apply it to the next twelve months of your life and beyond.