It's officially the new year and along with the new year comes the resolutions that everyone seems to make. Every cynical person who you know is probably sighing and saying, "Oh my gosh, New Year resolutions are dumb, you don't need to wait until the new year to change yourself!" which is definitely true. If there's something that you don't like about yourself, you don't need to wait until January 1st to change it. But there's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to resolve to change something about yourself in the new year.

Since it's officially 2016, go ahead and make resolutions, but make them attainable. Do you want to lose a little bit of that holiday weight? Sure, go ahead, but set your expectations low so that you don't feel discouraged halfway through January. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't shoot for the stars, but only do so if you know that you can do it.

Making outrageous resolutions or setting deadlines for things like losing weight can be prevent you from making it a habit in your daily life. A permanent, sustainable change is ultimately the goal with our resolutions.

Do it for the right reasons. It's easy to get caught up in ridiculous, shallow things because our media does revolve around them quite a bit. Are you losing weight because you actually want to or because you feel subconsciously pressured to? Don't let others pressure you into making a resolution that you don't want to complete. Do it for yourself, because you're the one who it impacts.

Don't let others discourage you, either. Some people, as previously mentioned, get extremely cynical about change around this time of year and will sometimes discourage others. Don't let this get to you. Just keep your possible end goal in mind and think of how amazing it will feel to succeed. Let the haters hate, as the cool kids say. Don't allow yourself to dwell on the negativity that others may throw at you.

Allow yourself to have setbacks. Even in everyday activities we experience setbacks and obstacles, so why should your resolutions be any different? If you come across a challenge when it comes to your resolution, accept it and learn from it! Yes, it's easier said than done, but everything that we are dealt is given to us for a reason. Do not allow these little challenges to distract you from your end goal. Keep on trucking forward and you'll feel even more accomplished!

Remember that even if you don't accomplish your resolution to the very last detail, that doesn't matter. What matters is that you made an effort. You still have so much more time to accomplish what you wanted! New Year's resolutions don't always have to happen in the new year, remember?