With every new year comes resolutions, promises to ourselves we beg ourselves to keep, but usually fail epically in doing so. Every year we want a clean slate, something we can focus on making better throughout the 365 days that lay ahead of us. For me, this is my last year as a teenager, I have exactly 391 days left as a teenager and by the end of 2018, I will be a sophomore in college.

Hopefully, I will have grown from where I am now and hopefully I'll be in a better mental state then I am now. That's my resolution, to become a better artist to have honed into my craft, figure out who I am on a deeper level and making 2018 the year I better myself mentally. But of course, who wouldn't want to be famous, skinner and of course, stick to that diet? Here's a short list of resolutions for 2018 that we can actually keep.

1. Make one resolution

Now, this isn't exactly a resolution, but it is the first guideline in creating a resolution that you can stick to. We often times don't stick to our resolutions because we pack too much on ourselves and we often forget that there will always be obstacles we need to make an effort to move past those obstacles.

2. Eat healthier

Now, this doesn't by any means mean that you will be on a diet, healthier can mean eating a banana for breakfast opposed to a Snickers bar. Not allowing yourself to drink soda at breakfast, something I've learned at college is that kids drink soda at any and all times.

Personally, I stopped eating breadsticks with every meal, because man they are good at my cafe. I allow myself breadsticks at one meal and with all the other sides I eat vegetables. Habits are created with repetition, salad with every meal is good, but why not add another vegetable to it as well, so I do.

3. Feel better, be better

This has been my little motto lately as with my homesickness sinking in from being thousands of miles away from home I made it a goal to find something in my day to be happy or thankful about. Take a picture, write it down in your journal, just find something to be happy about, find something to make you feel better and continue to feel better.

4. Explore and experience all you can

Following the famous cliché, "stop and smell the roses". In the beginning of my first semester of college I would make it a point to go out and find something. I would get lost, and I would find something to come back to. The bean slowly becomes boring when you live in Chicago, but there are some really good restaurants near it as well as a fudge shop.

5. Put your music on shuffle

This most likely sounds ridiculous, but often times we make playlists or only ever listen to the same albums over and over. We get so lost in the repeat button that we forget about all the music on our songs list. Something I've been doing lately is just shuffling all the music I have and seeing what I can find through the shuffle.

Not only this, but listen to something you wouldn't normally. Change your radio station or go to the playlists created on Apple Music, Spotify, create a new station on Pandora, expand your music taste and find something new.

6. Lose weight for you, no one else

It's the classic Resolution, we all want to lose weight and we all have harsh opinions of our bodies. Unfortunately, that's what humans do we knock ourselves down, but if you want to lose weight this year that's fine, but remember this.

THE SCALE DOESN'T DEFINE YOU.

LOVE YOURSELF NO MATTER HOW YOU LOOK.

CONFIDENCE IS THE SEXIEST THING.

LOSE WEIGHT BECAUSE YOU WANT TO NOT BECAUSE SOMEONE TOLD YOU TO.

PUSH YOURSELF TO YOUR BOUNDARIES NOT ANYONE ELSE'S.

REMEMBER THAT YOUR'E STRONG.

THERE WILL BE SETBACKS KEEP PUSHING.

DON'T LET A NUMBER DETERMINE YOUR END GOAL.

7. Validate someone daily

In our society we've gotten into the habit of knocking others down, this has become old and it is now time to spread love instead of hate. This is by far one of the hardest resolutions, but it is important that we treat others with love and make a point to appreciate someone each and every day.