Every year, I have the same handful of "New Year's Resolutions." Reach a goal weight, become closer with my faith, get good grades, etc. etc. etc. On New Year's Eve 2015, I was pretty content with life. I thought I had everything planned out, I knew where my life was going to go, I thought I had it all.

2016 was not what I expected it to be. Without going into too great of detail, I found that not everything goes according to plan. Things change, people change, you change. And although some changes really suck at first, they help shape you into a better version of yourself. I see all these tweets and memes of people saying 2016 sucked (and it did, at some points), but I'm choosing to think optimistically. I learned so much in the last year, and I'm definitely not the same person that I was at the end of last year -- hell, I'm not even the same person I was six months ago.

But I found that this is life. Life isn't about things going to plan or making things fall into place the way you want them to -- it's about learning to live with things when they fall as they may. We have very little control over our lives and the lives of others, but that doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. As cliche as it is, but we live and we learn and we better ourselves through each experience.

My New Year's Resolution this year isn't a resolution at all, it's more of a lifestyle choice. In the next 365 days, I want to continue to better myself, to strive towards creating the best version of myself possible. I want to continue to learn and grow so I can look back and say, "I'm not that person anymore, I'm better, but I'm appreciative of who she was; because without her, I wouldn't be me." I want to make my parents proud to have me as a daughter, my brother proud to have me as a sister, my grandmother proud to have me as her first granddaughter, my best friend proud to have me to lean on, and I want to make myself proud of coming such a long way and be happy for what I'm turning out to be.

Life is a journey of finding yourself, and you nor anyone else is static. We are dynamic people shaped by your environment and experiences and our genetic predispositions and how we allow those things to mold us into what we become.

In 2017, I encourage as many people as possible to start taking an active part in their life journey. To better their environment, better the world, and better themselves. To find light in the darkness, to find joy in the bleakest of times, to become what you've always wanted to be. 2016 may not have been exactly what you planned, but in 2017, play the lead role in your life. Something one of my favorite high school teachers told me once (something I will never, ever forget) you can't control everything, but make the most out of what you do control.