Recommended for you

My New (School) Year Resolutions-and why you should make some of your own

you can’t better the world, until you better yourself

Aug 08, 2018

My New (School) Year Resolutions-and why you should make some of your own

This school year, I'll be starting my first year of college. This opportunity allows me to start over in a whole new city with whole new people. Although I am extremely excited, I am also worried that I'll mess up again. Therefore, I decided to set resolutions for myself to help guide me to the best four years of my life.

Although I have a special opportunity for this because I get to start over, I truly believe this is important for everyone. Whether you are a; incoming high school freshman, returning high school or college student, parent, or teacher you have a fresh new start this school year, so why not take advantage of it.

Here are 6 of my resolutions for this upcoming school year.

Not labeling myself as a failure just because I wasn't perfect.

I have a classic type A personality, and because of this I am often extremely hard on myself when I am not perfect. I used to cry if I didn't get the score I wanted on a test, but as I grow up I am starting to realize that you're not a failure until you have given up. I also learned that if you genuinely try at something and still fail that does not make you a failure, if just gives you a reason to keep trying and to work harder. Although I know these two important messages, I still struggle with labeling myself as a failure.

Not letting my stress get the best of me

I handle stress horrible, don't believe me? Well there was literally four days my senior year of high school were I didn't eat anything because I was so stressed out and genuinely thought I was headed towards a nervous breakdown because I was so stressed. I then proceeded to make a list of 55 things I was stressed out about which just made my stress worse (surprising right). I learned from this experience that maybe I should wait a few years before I write my best seller on how to handle stress. In all seriousness, I know that college is going to make me stress out a lot, as it should, but stress is only normal if you know how to handle it in a way that does not consume your life. This summer I've began working out and writing more which helped me a lot when I was stressed (which is not just a school year thing for me, unfortunately) and it has improved me a lot. I hope that if I continue to do this it can help me as I transition to college and will help me not have a nervous breakdown which is always good.

Picking the right friends

I am notoriously good at making friends, but bad at picking good friends, like no joke if there was a competition for picking friends who are bad influences I would win every time. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of amazing friends but I also have had friends that almost ruined my life. As I move cities and start school I am going to have no choice but to make new friends. As much as I wish I could just stay with my friends who are good for me, I can't so the best I can do is try to pick friends who share similar values as me.

Budgeting my money better

Asking my parents for money has become a really bad habit of mine, but I was given a reality check when my parents told me no and my card then declined at target. Sadly this wasn't the last time this happen. It was embarrassing and definitely a wake up call that I need to start 'adulting' and not spend all my money the day I get payed and then be left going through my car for loose change in order to get a Starbucks waiting for pay day (it has happen before-more then once). I recently downloaded an app on my phone that helps me budget, I hope it works because asking my dad for 20 bucks when I am 3 hours away from home is probably not ideal.

Stop lying and telling myself I am going to do it after I finish this episode

Because I know this isn't true. In high school I procrastinated a lot more then I care to. During my first two and half years of high school I used to do my homework as soon as got it. But towards the end of my junior year and my whole senior year I only worked on classes that I enjoyed. Although I rarely had a late or missing assignment (#nerdalert) I know at times I didn't do my best work because I was just trying to get it done. Although this worked for me in high school, it's definitely not going to work in college and I won't fool myself anymore.

Sleep more

I don't sleep without taking Tylenol PM which is awful for you, and I am trying to better myself and that also means physically. For whatever reason my brain likes to try to solve world problems and get really stressed at 2 am, and I would love for it to stop but it doesn't really listen to me. I have talked to people in my life about this. One of my friends suggested I started juuling, my doctor suggested that I do meditation and my dad suggested I start doing yoga. I am not going to do any of this I like my lungs, I suck at staying still and yoga is super boring. So as of right now, this one is a work in progress.

This entire piece was inspired by me finding an article on growth mindset, and that is the reason why they are resolutions and not goals. To me, goals seem so fixed because once they are reach your are finished, but resolutions are permanent changes to your life.

Hope you all have a wonderful school year, full of personal, academic, social and professional growth.

Report this Content

This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.

Health and Wellness

5 Ways To Bring Positivity Into Your Life When All You Want To Do Is Drown In Self-Pity

It seems like life has been serving up more bad than good and in all honesty, the only thing you want to do is crawl under your covers and hide from the rest of the world.

Grand Canyon University

5 Ways To Bring Positivity Into Your Life When All You Want To Do Is Drown In Self-Pity

Photo by Kinga Howard on Unsplash

The first two weeks of classes have come to an end and they have been anything BUT easy. It seems like life has been serving up more bad than good and in all honesty, the only thing you want to do is crawl under your covers and hide from the rest of the world.

Although this seems like the best solution, it is also the easy way out. Take it from the girl who took basically a whole week off from her life because she just could not handle everything that was being thrown at her. This caused her to feel extremely lonely and even more stressed out for being behind in classes that JUST began.

Keep Reading...Show less

self-pity

Entertainment

11 Things We Learned From Brooke Davis

"What's more important? What we become or how we become it?"

St. Thomas Aquinas College

"She was fiercely independent, Brooke Davis. Brilliant, and beautiful, and brave. In two years she had grown more than anyone I had ever known. Brooke Davis is going to change the world someday, and I'm not sure she even knows it." - Lucas Scott, An Unkindness of Ravens

Brooke Davis of the hit show One Tree Hill was the it girl - she had it all, or so we thought. She started out as a stuck-up, shallow, spoiled, head cheerleader who didn't have her life together. She slept around a lot and loved to party - sounds like your typical high school teenager right? Wrong. B. Davis had so much more to offer. Caring, loyal, and outspoken, she has taught us some valuable lessons throughout the 9 seasons that OTH was on the air:

Keep Reading...Show less

brooke davis

Relationships

11 Signs You Have An Honorary Roommate

Make yourself at home, why don't you?

Appalachian State University

1766

Rachel Zadeits

For some of us, coming to college was the first time we ever had to share a room. It was a big change, but a fun one. As you meet more and more people over the course of your college career, it seems to be a pattern that you will at some point have that one friend that doesn't live with you, but acts like they do. We call those people, "Honorary Roommates" and here are 11 signs you have one in your life.