With New Year's Eve just a few weeks away, the pressure starts building up. People start reflecting on their year, and for some reason unbeknownst to me, they start beating themselves up for anything that went wrong throughout the last 365 days. They'll make new years resolutions to lose weight, get a better job, find a boyfriend, or whatever it may be. They always find something that they can blame themselves for. They'll regret that job position they decided to turn down in the beginning of the year or even something as irrelevant as that concert they paid top dollar for that ended up being terrible. Whatever is it, the point is that the focus always seems to be on the improvements that need to be made, and never on the accomplishments that have been achieved.
I think this is a problem.
Obviously, everyone has something in their life they would like to improve; but it's important to acknowledge the fact that we all have some great things in our lives that we should strive to continue or have them remain in our lives. Just because the clock strikes midnight and we start writing 2016 on our papers instead, doesn't mean we have to turn ourselves into a different person than who we were at 11:59. If you're on a consistent gym schedule or in a relationship you love, vow to make the effort to keep it exactly how it is. For some reason, the pressure for change in the new year is inevitable, but it's also completely in our own hands. If you can truly say you're happy with yourself then so be it. Don't change. This is completely okay. Be proud of your accomplishments. In fact, be proud to acknowledge the fact that you're f*cking awesome.
It has to be a new year, but it doesn't have to a new you.
Each year of your life should be a progression; we learn different lessons as time passes us by and each year we make progress within ourself. However, at the same time, we keep a lot of ourselves the same. So, if you're happy with your life as is, don't let the pressure of the 'new year' convince you to change something. 2016 can still be your year, with great things coming your way, and with the same you.
