This year, I’m not going to make a list of New Year’s resolutions that I will inevitably forget by mid-February. Instead, I want to approach the new year with a fresh, positive mindset. On both a global and national scale, 2016 was a significant year, but not for the best reasons.

On a personal level, however, 2016 was filled with a lot of positive life events. I found out that I got accepted into a school that had been on my radar for well over a year, which is saying a lot for someone as flighty and indecisive as me (proven by the fact that my college application list was changing nearly every two weeks well into the first trimester of my senior year). I opened up to my best friends on a group trip to Jamaica and was honest about my mental health issues for the first time in my life. I turned 18 and officially became a “legal adult”—but, if we’re being honest, I can’t say that I’m mentally an adult yet. I graduated the school I had attended for 13 years and said goodbye to the people I had grown up with. I used my free time over the summer to take risks and gain experiences I had never been brave enough to say yes to in the past. I moved to a new state after spending my entire life in Texas. I finished my first semester of college and met so many new people who have already changed me in such positive ways.

I will admit that some of these experiences were overwhelming at first, but I have grown so much from every one of them. So, instead of approaching the new year with a halfhearted goal to exercise more or quit drinking coffee, I would like to give myself only one task.

I hope that in 2017, I will continue to grow as an individual. I hope that I will continue to take on each day with an open mind. I hope that I will continue to push myself to say yes to new things. I hope that I will form more strong relationships with new people, and that I will make sure that my friends from my past still know how much I appreciate them and value their support.

I realize that this year will be another challenge for us as a nation. We as a people must face the consequences of the events that played out in 2016. However, I hope that with the personal knowledge I have gained, I can use my open mind to be a positive influence.

So here’s to 2017. Let this be a year filled with laughter, understanding, reflection, and a touch of serendipity.