2016 is now here and everyone seems to be scrambling for their New Year’s resolution. We are all now looking over the last 12 months, the good and the bad, and see what we want to start off new with. While normally I never set myself up for failure over resolutions, after looking over this last year and seeing everything that’s happened, I’ve decided to change that by coming up with 10 simple resolutions for the coming 2016 year.
1. Exercise More
Growing up as an athletic child, I’ve always tried to stay fit and be involved in some sort of sport or activity. With it being too cold and snowy outside to play tennis and the local indoor hitting facility too far from the campus, now is the perfect time to start building myself and improving until the fall. I’m not the strongest 5’ 2” 18-year-old around that’s for sure, so I’m really hoping to improve my cardio and strength over the next couple of months and gain a few pounds.
2. Eat Healthier
Since staying fit and healthy consists of 80 percent healthy eating and 20 percent exercise, my other main focus for the coming year is to start eating healthier. My Pinterest is currently filled with loads of healthy eating tips and meals for college students staying on campus. This is really useful for me, too, because my dorms do not have lounges with stoves and ovens, limiting some of the dishes I could be making.
3. Less Procrastination
I think it’s safe to say that nearly every college student experiences at least some sort of procrastination over their 4+ years at any college or university. While I kept it down pretty well during my first semester of college, I don’t want to start slipping so early into my college career. So some little tips that I’ve figured out that have helped me keep my procrastination down are; putting my phone away until I have what I wanted done, making a list of everything I wanted to get done by certain times, doing my least favorite assignments first, and not making any set plans until I knew I would be done with an assignment by then.
4. Making Better Use of my Time
Following that, I want to make better use of my time. I did that pretty well my first semester and I want to continue that this coming year. Some things I did were being open for changes or plans and setting my course schedules at times that would work best for me. I typically work better in the morning and afternoon, so for some days I have classes spread out, leaving me time before classes to get work done. Other days I have my classes back to back mid day so that I have the morning to do anything I need to (or catch up on sleep, if I was up late the previous night), as well as the whole afternoon and night to plow through any homework I might have gotten or just hang out with some friends and catch up with everyone. Making good use of my time not only puts me in a better mood, but I feel like I’m really accomplishing something which is really valuable to me in college.
5. Travel
With how many opportunities to travel have been popping up, I want to broaden my knowledge of the world and see a lot more this coming year. I don’t travel very often, but I’ve always had a huge passion and want to explore or go to a million different places. I want 2016 to be the year I expand out of my comfort zone when it comes to destinations. My family is going to Thailand this coming summer, which I am very excited about, because the culture there is nothing like it is here and I cannot wait to experience that. I’m hoping I will be able to go to a couple new cities this year with friends or family as well and make some great memories that I can share with others. I want to be able to take away something from each place I go to and hopefully grow and expand my views on the world.
6. Be More Positive
With so much negativity in the world, it can seem hard to keep a smile on your face. But what I’ve started doing a bit these last few months and I want to improve this to my best ability. I always feel so much better when I start looking at situations on the brighter side and trying to be okay with whatever happens. There’s so much I want to accomplish and being positive about whatever situations occur will only help me improve as a person and in what I want to do with my life.
7. Spend More Time with Friends and Family
Even with a busy college schedule, I still want to make sure I put in enough time to spend with friends and go back home to see family. My parents have always motivated me a ton, so I want to keep in touch with them. Hanging out with friends during the week also helps de-stress whenever I am having a rough or busy day. It never hurts to push back a little bit of homework after a long day to spend an hour or two watching a movie or chatting with friends.
8. SLEEP
I have a really bad habit of staying up till 2 A.M. for no good reason when I have to wake up early in the morning followed by a very busy day. I want to put my health first in this coming 2016 year and make sure my body is ready for how busy it will be. With school, work, volunteering, and plenty of extra-curricular activities on my board, I need as much sleep as I can grasp to save myself from burning out. Fitting in naps into your schedule are very helpful, too, which I want to continue doing next semester, even if it’s 20 minutes and I just close my eyes with some music playing, anything to get some energy back and feel ready to tackle on whatever the day has in store for me.
9. Read More
Growing up I always had a huge passion for reading. One winter break, I read through eight books and I miss just curling up away from everyone and diving into a good book. It was always very peaceful and it was always a great way for me to relax whenever I was stressed out. Even though I did get a coloring book this Christmas for my de-stressing needs, reading is another option I want to have out there more that I do.
man running in forestPhoto by 
