Here we are, at the start of a new year filled with hopeful people, dreaming that their worlds will be altered by their new year's resolutions. With their "new" vow to "not break this year’s goal and screw it up by day two like all the other years”, or at least that's what was written on my motivational post-it that was stuck to my mirror this morning. I too was a believer in the almighty new year resolution. Each year, I believed it would be the turning point in my mundane lifestyle, in which I would become the best version of myself. After about three years of promising the same goal and breaking, I realized resolutions may not be for me. I had a moment of enlightenment where I came to a simple conclusion, after recognizing that I was not alone in the feat for resolution fulfillment: screw resolutions. After the numerous years of failure and inability to maintain even the smallest of goals, you think as a species we would have recognized that we are looking at "change" in entirely the wrong way.
We believe that the new year marks a fresh start for our engrossing habits that we would like to see vanish. But contrary to popular belief, change does not occur overnight simply because our earth has aged another year. In fact, once that clock strikes twelve, much like Cinderella, we are brought back to our rags and realize that we are not going to transform into the bronze 5’9” Gigi Hadid. Instead, we are simply ourselves, not much different than we were on December 31st, except for one notable new characteristic that comes alive in each of us; our motivation. It’s no secret that in order to achieve your resolution you need to possess some intrinsic motivation to push you along and in a timely manner, may I add, or else you may abandon the goal altogether. This motivation, no matter how strong, tends to dwindle as the days go by, and vanish by a week after new years if not properly tapped into.
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There is a myth that surrounds the new year. We believe the new year will provide us with some sort of magic that will transform us into these infinitely motivated creatures, who are ready to right all of their wrongs. However, I’m going to let you in on a little secret, that took me entirely too long to realize: you don’t need a new year to create a new you. Super cheesy and completely oversimplified? Of course, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. You have the power every day to become a better version of yourself. And no, I don’t mean each day you must make a huge leap in improving your humanity, I mean that improving on the little things that may seem insignificant, could alter your life in ways you never imagined possible. So make your bed when you get up in the morning, smile at that stranger on the sidewalk and don’t fear trying new things. Your resolution every day should be to become a better ‘you’ than you were the day before. If you are not constantly learning from the trials and tribulations that troubled you the day before, then you are not fulfilling your potential.
