To the girl who's looking for a fresh start in 2018,

You made it. You survived the holidays, the couple pictures that have been swarming Instagram since Thanksgiving and the interrogations from family asking about your future goals and questioning your major. You made it through New Years as the single friend, and you're still breathing after having to go a month without your college besties.

As you sit and reflect on the last year, it may not have been what you hoped for, a year to make something of yourself, and become the person of your dreams, and may have ended with nothing more than high-stress levels and dreams that still seem out of reach... but the good news?

2018 was made for you.

If you are going into this year doubtful and afraid, know that you are not alone. It is hard to believe that after such an exhausting year coming to end that you can come back and take this year head on, but the truth is, the only person holding yourself back is you.

When I say this year is made for you, I mean it.

I, like many of you have been waiting for "my year" to finally achieve my goals or soar above and beyond expectations. The thing I have come to realize though is that I am the only one who is prohibiting that from happening.

You may be afraid to fail, or maybe you think that your dreams are just too far out there to be true, but I have a challenge for you...

I dare you to accomplish one goal a day, whether that is enjoying your accounting class or applying for your dream job, I dare you to do it!

Why? Because I have sat around for years letting my fears get the best of me, letting myself believe that NEXT year will be my year, but to myself and so many others, I am telling you right now, make THIS year your year!

This is a year of renewal, risk-taking and dream chasing.

I encourage you to make a list of ways you want to grow this year, not resolutions, but characteristics. Maybe you want to be "bold," "courageous" or "adventurous." Once you have these words I want you to make them as big and bright as you can and put them somewhere you will see them every day.

Look at these words constantly, do not just skim them but really put some thought into them and make a conscious effort into achieving them.

Every year has the opportunity to be "your year" but the only time this is ever going to happen is when YOU decide that it is going to be YOUR year!

So do it! Take the plunge and decide that 2018 is for you!

So whether 2017 was not what you wished for because of a relationship, a job or school, it is officially in the past and 2018 is here to allow growth and happiness in all the spaces where it may have lacked before.

Enjoy this year and allow yourself to soar, you deserve this!

Best,

The girl who is leaving 2017 behind