My quote to live by this year is "It's been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will," from Anne of the Green Gables. I've come to a point in my life where there is immense joy, but also shades of sadness and heartache. I guess this is what being an adult is.

As children, we all imagine a life filled with pure happiness all the time. Why wouldn't we dream of a future that is perfect? However, learning that life isn't all sunshine and rainbows is a difficult lesson, but I feel like accepting this fact and choosing to live on the sunny side is the key to being a successful adult.

Success is defined a thousand different ways, but for me it simply means that the good days outnumber the bad, that I laugh everyday, that I see someone smile, and that I am surrounded by people that I love.

This year had a little bit of a rough start. I was extremely sick, my relationship ended, and then my family lost our dog to cancer suddenly. It hasn't been easy and if I just focus on those three things, it seems like 2017 is going to be a bust. However, that is not the case. Along with the hardships, I have found great joy.

I have wonderful friends to share my time and laughter with, I have a little kitten named Merlin who brings me so so so much happiness, I get to lead a group of incredible women into a new semester as an official chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta. I got to go see a new city and learn something new while I was there. I have a job that allows me to earn an income. I have two parents that mean the world to me, and I have opportunities to grow.

It is so easy to focus on the negative aspects of our lives, because sometimes they just honestly suck, plain and simple. But why live like that? Why live in constant heartache, fear, anxiety, and sadness. Why waste your time? I know that we all have problems, but we all have reasons to give thanks. We all have reasons to smile. And if you feel like you don't, then make a change. Do something differently, because you deserve to be happy.

I urge you to not hold yourself back this year. Try new things, learn, grow, surround yourself with people who are going to bring you up. I lived for so many years focused on my problems, so much that they ate me up. They ran my life, but this year I am going to stay on the path to success.

So get going! Examine your life, examine your thoughts and feelings. And once you've recognized the areas you need to work on, get to it! Enjoy the little things, the big things, and the things in between. It is time!!