My Resolutions for 2017:

Of course the usual; lose weight, not eat gluten, spend more time with family, call my granddad more, lay of the chocolate, stuff everyone chooses. This year, though, I want to dedicate myself to live more.

1. To not listen to others people's opinions.

It took me awhile, but I never realized how much I listen to peoples' opinions until it was too late. I let others run every decision I made first semester, and, honestly, I probably ruined a lot of chances for myself. It took a family member saying, “once I stopped listening to everyone else and asking what they would do if they were me, I started living" to get me to realize what I was missing.

2. To apply myself more in school.

GRADES. GRADES. GRADES. GRADES. It took me hitting a wall first semester to realize…..grades matter a lot. It does suck when your teachers are hard or even rude to you and you just feel like hmmmm should I study?? YES!!!!

3. To care for my health more.

I feel like everyone around me has definitely put their health on the backburner, eating foods that only make us feel worse and look worse, but in 2017, I feel like becoming more responsible for my mental and physical health is a mandatory resolution.

4. To appreciate life more.

This summer I learned many lessons about miracles, and about how truly real they are. I learned that even when the worst looks like its reached you, there is still a little light. My mom was on the brink of death and then, BAM, life hit my mom again and here she is. I get another year with her and I got to see what life really is. I want to be able to speak more kindly, act nicer, and love harder.

5. To love myself more.

I spent this past weekend with people who love me and my family more than words and that made me realize something - if these people see something so beautiful in me, then why do I not see it too? I realized how low my friends see themselves and I’ve seen how sad they get when they see me think badly of myself, so though I say this is just a challenge for myself, I want my friends to see what I think of them. Every day, they make me smile when I don’t feel like it. They make me laugh when I have had a really bad day. They make me love myself when I realize what they see in me. I want to love and appreciate myself the way that I want my friends to.

6. Letting go.

This semester has made lots of things apparent to me, but mainly, that I need to let some things go. People from my past, mistakes I have made, wrongs made against me - but 2017 is the year and the time of things to be let go, and I won't have it any other way.

So 2017....bring it on.