At both an individual level and a national level, 2016 has been a very trying year. We’ve seen the unfortunate election of Donald Trump as our next United States president, the Orlando nightclub shooting, the deaths of David Bowie, Prince, and Alan Thicke, and last, but not least, the death of Harambe at the Cincinnati Zoo. This isn’t an exhaustive list of bad events that have occurred this year, but just a few things that were pretty awful in my opinion. As bad as the year has been, and as much as we like to dwell on the negatives, it’s important to remember some of the good things that have happened as well. Giant pandas are no longer considered to be an endangered species, Netflix made offline downloads available for those long flights where you don’t want to pay for wifi, and three states got rid of their tampon tax. With all that being said, the best thing about 2016, and every other year is that after 365 days, it’s over. Here I’ve made a list of 8 things that I’m saying goodbye to in 2016 and 8 things that I’m saying hello to in 2017.
Goodbyes:
1. Drowning Sorrows In Unhealthy Habits
Whether it's eating, shopping or consuming alcohol, everybody has a bad habit that they engage in when they're stressed. One of my resolutions for 2016 is to find a productive way to relieve stress that I'll thank myself for later. Maybe I'll take up yoga and become a super fit, tea-drinking yoga master 2018. That's a bit unlikely, but I'll definitely think twice before reaching for the family-sized bag of flamin' hot cheetohs after a rough day at school.
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2. Holding Onto Unhealthy Friendships/Relationships For The Sake of Time
When you've been in a relationship or a friendship for a significant amount of time, no matter how toxic it is, it's really easy for you to start making excuses for reasons as to why you shouldn't leave. Don't let time hold you back. I know that I have my whole life ahead of me for developing friendships and finding the perfect relationship, and I will no longer allow myself to stay in unhealthy relationships just for the sake of not wanting to feel as though I've wasted my time.
3. Going Out of My Way To Prove Myself To The World
Trying to prove yourself constantly is extremely exhausting, because at the end of the day, nobody cares if I'm great besides myself. No more taking classes that are way too hard for me and struggling through them just to say that I did it. No more balancing major hours at work, with the maximum credit hours at school, with an active social life just to prove to everyone that I'm a great multitasker. I'm going to take care of myself and treat my body and my mind as though I love them.
4. Ridiculously High Expectations
Similar to #3, I'm going to stop putting so much pressure on myself to be great at everything. Sometimes it's completely okay to just be average and happy rather than exceptional and exhausted. Especially now that I'm in college, it's more important than ever that I take care of myself. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to hold onto my goals and my ambitions, and I will always shoot for the star, but I won't go out of my way to make impossible things happen.
5. Spending Without Thinking
Like most working adults, as soon as I get paid, I start thinking about how I'm going to spend my check in Target and Sephora. Now that I'm a rent-paying, grocery-shopping adult, that doesn't always work out in my favor. One of my new years resolutions for 2017 is to be more wise and cautious when it comes to spending my money. I'm not saying goodbye to spontaneous late-night trips to Target with my friends, but I'll definitely remain thoughtful when deciding between 12 pairs of decorative socks and those cute little rice bowls that are always on clearance.
6. Forcing Adulthood To Happen
One of my favorite phrases of 2016 has been: "I'm 19, I pay my own rent, and I work. I'm an adult." This has mostly been directed towards my family members during moments of conflict, when I feel like I'm being treated like a child. The more I think about it, I realize that being an adult is exciting, but I'm in no hurry to grow up. Being an adult means having to pay bills, make difficult decisions, and deal with lots of scary situations on your own. In 2017, instead of trying to find adulthood, I'm going to let it find me.
7. Agreeing To Do Things That I Don't Actually Want To Do
I think that this is something that we're all guilty of doing at some point in time. Your friends ask you if you want to go out to dinner at 8 PM on a Tuesday night, the night before a big test, and due to feelings of obligation, you say yes even though you know that you haven't studied as much as you should have. This is definitely something that happens to me on a weekly basis. I just can't say no to my friends and I will make every and any excuse to justify socializing on a weekday.
8. Shaping Myself To Fit A Mold
I am not a cookie. I repeat, I am not a cookie. I can't be shaped into a Christmas tree or a gingerbread man or any other shape. I see so many great and inspiring people and I want to be like them, so I try to organize my life in a way that mimics theirs and that tends to be really stressful and not exactly realistic. The only mold that I should be trying to fill is my own.
Hellos:
1. Healthier Habits
Not to be confused with the tradition of "New year, new me" this year I do plan to fall into a few healthier habits that will help me to lead a healthier lifestyle and love my life a little bit more. You definitely won't find me shopping in the organic section at Whole Foods or paying for $90 juices cleanses, but the butter popcorn in my pantry might be replaced with string cheese and almonds. College is a big change on it's own without adding dramatic lifestyle changes, but there's nothing wrong with a few minor self-improvements.
2. Hiking
Going along with those healthier habits that I plan on developing, I want to hike more. In 2016, I think I went hiking all of 2 times. For someone who lives in the beautiful, sunny state of Colorado, that's just not enough. School and work do keep me busy, but I think that I can commit to hiking at least once or twice a month. There are so many great trails to explore and hiking is a great way to bond with friends, not to mention, most of the time it's completely free. Time to break out those hiking boots.
3. Cherishing My Education
A college education, something that I am so privileged to have been given, should be cherished. I may have had to take out quite a few loans to cover the cost of my education, but I'm studying something that I love at the school of my dreams. I don't believe that you can put a cost on a good education, so it's worth every single penny. I think that in the coming months I'll definitely be doing less complaining about my education and more praising.
4. Checking On My Family
As I've mentioned before, between school, work, and my social life, I'm a pretty busy person. Unfortunately, that has caused me to miss out on a lot of communication between my family and I. One of my New Year's resolutions is to make sure that I'm calling and checking on my family members regularly. Even if I'm too busy to call, a simply Facebook message or a tweet can be beneficial in strengthening those relationships.
5. Checking On Myself
Just like it's important for me to check on the well-being of my friends and family members, it's also really important that I make sure that I'm okay. When I'm stressed out and dealing with things, I like to keep them to myself so that I'm not stressing anyone else out, but sometimes it gets to be a little too much for me. I'm definitely going to make more of an effort to talk about my feelings and deal with them so that I don't crack under pressure.
6. Writing More
Although you can't tell from my poorly written articles on this site, writing is actually something that I'm really passionate about. If I wasn't planning on becoming a doctor, I would absolutely be studying creative writing. I spend so much time writing papers for school that when I have time to work on one of my own stories or poems, I have very little inspiration or energy. I hope that in 2017, I will at least be able to spend 3 hour each week working on my own stories.
7. Staying Clean, Staying Organized
We're all guilty of skipping a week or two of washing our hair, or storing half-dirty clothes on our desk chairs, but no more. From this point on, I will be clean and organized for a good 90% of the time. This is definitely going to be one of the more difficult resolutions to stick with because I love just throwing things into my backpack, but with enough willpower I know that I can do it.
8. Love Myself
Last, but not least, 2017 will be the year of me loving and taking care of myself. Self-love is one of the most important forms of love that a person can receive and I feel as though I don't get enough of that. Whether I need to stop complaining about my body or dating guys who are just all wrong for me, this year, I'm going to love myself in the way that nobody else can love me.
Now you've all heard it! There are my lists of things that I'm giving up and things that I'm taking on as we move into the new year. I hope that this will inspire you all to make your own lists!
