I don’t write these kinds of articles often, and this may feel like it’s addressed to myself a bit. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I’ll see in a year if any of this advice is relevant, but I just wanted to end this year with some introspection. I wanted to look at things we can all work on. I don’t like pointing fingers and blaming people, but we have so much to fix in this world.

We are a selfish people. Just let that sit with you for a moment and try not to defend that accusation I just hurled at you. It’s hard, I know. We all think that we’re good people, but we fall short on more than one occasion. What we can do is to be better than we were this past year.

Yes, we should be better to other people, but the only way to do that is to be better to ourselves. A teacher this past semester taught my class that when people have their power taken away they go and try to take it from someone else. He used this as a way to explain why the world is full of bully’s. We have this strange need to fill the holes that were punched into us by punching the same holes into someone else. Nothing good ever comes of making someone feel less than they are.

I’d like my fellow millennials to participate in a collective social purging next year. I’m not talking about unplugging from social media, although it wouldn’t hurt. What I’m speaking of is to stop and really look at the people we spend time with. Are they sucking our time here on earth, or are they contributing something to it? This is very hard to do, but it’s extremely necessary. We often don’t see the people who are bad for us because sometimes they disguise themselves as friends. Friends are the people who will tell you that you’re doing something stupid or that another person is fake.

You may not believe them at first, but the truth always seems to rear its ugly head. Be more aware of genuine people, and put more effort into being a genuine person. There are too many people pretending to like things or want things so that they fit into a group or so they can have friends. I honestly feel that everyone has people they can relate too. Somewhere in the world there is someone who will understand you. You just have to look in the right places.

Moving from this year into 2016 and looking to make resolutions we can keep I say the only that matters is to live your truth. I know that sounds like some vague advice thrown out by some random life coach, but it’s the best advice you can give. Living your truth just means that this next year is an opportunity to find what you really want in life and to fight for it. Many of us find ourselves existing instead of living. For some the two are hard to distinguish, but the real difference is that existing is sustaining while living is to grow. If you’re not changing as a person, physically, mentally and emotionally, you're already dead.

With that said, I leave you with this:

"For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne."