So it's that time of year again where everyone is taking down their Christmas decor and posting their New Years resolution's to Facebook and other various social media. Now I know that basically no one actually follows through with their resolutions (myself included). But now that I'm living on my own in one of the most amazing cities in the world, I think that I'm going to give this thing a real try. Plus I've picked up on a couple helpful hints during the 6 months that I've already been here, and I figured I'd share. So here are my resolutions for 2017.

1) Keep a Journal/ ORGANIZE

In my past experience, when I'm organized, everything else feels so much easier. I'm someone who, when I don't write it all out, assumes that I have a billion tasks to do. So when I have a clear list in front of me, I can just go through them like a check list. It also gives me an excuse to buy a really cute planner and set of pens. Then separate from that, I love to keep a journal. I love writing down ideas for short stories, funny things that happened that day, or even just quotes that I want to remember. I find that keeping a journal helps me feel like I'm not going to forget anything. It also allows me to write all of my feelings down so that nothing bogs down my positivity. Basically keeping a journal and planner allows you to keep your mind and heart happy and organized.

2) Get Out and Photograph More

With an amazing school program can also come a lot of stress. So I want to find more time to get out and do something that always relaxes me, which is photography. We live in such a beautiful city with so many unknown and amazing places and people to photograph. So my goal is to make a map of NYC with 24 small places that I want to photograph and then visit 2 each month. That will allow me to see so many different parts of NYC and really get acquainted with the culture that you wouldn't normally get to experience.

3) DRINK WATER/ Be Healthy

I am the worst vocalist ever when it comes to my water intake. You're supposed to drink like 20 ounces of water a day or something and I barely take sips at the water fountain in passing. So for 2017 my goal is to buy a really cute water bottle, and make sure I drink at least one full bottle a day. And naturally what comes with drinking water? Eating Healthy. With the amount of dancing that you do in a musical theater program, you have to keep up with what you're eating. Unfortunately, Subway and Jamba Juice are not going to cut it. So my goal is to create a cute little meal board on my Pinterest with cheap but healthy ideas for meals and snacks to try throughout the week.

4) Clean Your Room (you will be happier)

Ok so our dorms are really small, like REALLY small. That allows them to get really messy really quickly. And I'm the kind of person who is completely affected by the condition of my room. When my room is messy I feel frantic and gross until it is clean. But when it is clean, I feel like I can breath and relax from my day. I also want to be able to have friends in my room, and have cute movie marathons. And I never want to have people over if my room is messy. So my goal is to keep my room in better condition all the time (rather than three times a week).

5) Stop Obsessing Over the Cute Boy Who Works in the Coffee Shop

This one is pretty self explanatory. You have to just accept that the only things you have in common are your taste in lattes and your taste in guys. Instead start focusing on your own life, and hope that one day a boy thinks of you as "the cute girl in the coffee shop" and you can start a life together where all your children are named after coffee drinks. To add to that: Don't think so much about relationships. Every girl in college seems so concerned to find the love of their life, that they rush into relationships with people that they don't actually care about. Rather than that, I think that people should focus on really making sure that they are at a good place in their own lives. Then something good will follow on its own, and it'll be the right person for you.

6) Save money to see Theater that you really care about

I'm the kind of person who wants to see a Broadway show every single night. But I've recently realized what everyone meant when they said "COLLEGE BUDGET". So my goal for 2017 is to see less shows, but to see shows that I feel really passionately about. Rather than spending a cheap amount to get 3 different lottery tickets, save up and buy one really good ticket to Dear Evan Hansen, or Waitress. Shows that cost a little more, but mean more to you. I feel like in the end it'll be more beneficial. Because when I leave a show that makes me think, it always reminds me why I want to be a performer. With the stress of school and the industry, sometimes we need those small reminders of why we began doing this in the first place. So my goal is to see two important shows a month.

7) Call your family

I am sooooo guilty of this. With my crazy schedule, I often forget to call my parents. I don't want the only time that I call them to be that I need money or something for school. Because they're awesome, and they deserve to know that I love them. I want to keep in the loop of how things are going on back home. I want to know how my brother's wrestling game was yesterday, and how work was for my mom. My parents are divorced and I don't get to see my dad all that often so I want to know how things are in Nashville. So my goal is to FaceTime my dad once a week so that I can see his face (even if he's making a silly face). On top of that I alway's want my parents to feel like they aren't disconnected from my life (more than just what I post on social media... even if I post pretty much everything that's going on). So I want to fill them in on the little things, not just my classes. So my goal is to call my parents at a minimum of every other day (4 times a week).

8) Play Around More in the Rehearsal Room

Often we stress about rehearsing school curriculum, and things that we are required to perform. So we don't always leave the space feeling amazing about ourselves because we aren't performing material that we are really passionate about, or maybe it's material that is particularly challenging to us. So I want to learn to loosen up in the rehearsal room and just try things for the heck of it, even if it crashes and burns. It's so important to explore things that challenge us, because how else are we going to grow? So I wanna find new things that I could be really good at, or things that maybe don't work for me. But I just want to try new things. In addition to that, I want to designate the last couple minutes of my rehearsals to singing through something that I absolutely love so that I always leave the room feeling accomplished.

9) READ/ WRITE MORE

I am a huge fan of reading, but college took up all my spare time. But it's not something that I want to cut out of my life completely. So for 2017 I am going to set apart time to read, even if it's one book every two weeks. I want to expand my knowledge of authors and literature because it is important to me. I'll trade in one episode on Netflix for 3 chapters of a book. I have to learn to balance my time between television and reading. The second half of this is something that I am tackling at this very moment. I love to write (short stories, songs, poetry, metafiction, anything), but I've been so busy that I don't get to write as much as I want to. So I'm giving myself a deadline by being here on The Odyssey. I have to write one piece a week. Even if it's not a masterpiece, I'll know that I'm putting something out there, which will help me in the right direction.

10) Become More Informed On Politics and Social Issues

As I'm getting older, and beginning to think more for myself, I realize how much I didn't really know about politics and what is going on in the world. Now that I am of age to vote and start speaking my mind in a way that could actually make a difference, I want to do my research. My goal is to read up on both sides of the political/social spectrum and keep updated on what's going on in the news. I don't want to go to Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner and have my family start discussing an event in the news and not have an opinion. I want to be able to form my own opinions and have facts to back them up. I just really want to expand my knowledge of what is going on in this world (not just in this country) so that I'm not hidden away from anything, and so I can form solid opinions on these topics.

11) Start Using Other's Success as Motivation not Competition

I personally feel that this is the most important resolution on my list. The program (and industry) that we are in is one of the most competitive fields that you can go into. Every day I watch people think of others success as their own defeat, even if it's the success of their friends. Sometimes its hard not to get competitive with the people that you are close to. But we all have to remember that we are all different, and we bring different things to the table based on our past life experiences. We have to lift each other up and celebrate the victories of our friends. There seems to be such lack of community, and that is something that I want to work to build back. You have to put out positivity in order to expect it in return. I want to build strong friendships and be the person that people know they can come to with good news, and know that I will always be routing for them. I want to work to build the best version of myself, and find out what makes me special and work on really showing that, rather than competing to be the best at something else.

So in conclusion, a lot of craziness happened in the last 6 months, but I wouldn't trade them for anything else in the world. I am looking forward to kicking butt during the next year of my training, and then into the real world. I know that it's unrealistic to assume that I will meet every single goal that I have set for myself, but I am going to try really hard to do my best. Not to "say that I did", but in order to give myself the most positive and stress-free 2017 that I possibly can. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and I will see you all in 2017!