With the start of the new year, people are making resolutions left and right. Some resolutions are hard to follow and will inevitably fall through the cracks within the first couple months of 2017. Here are a few realistic, but important, resolutions you can follow in order to start the new year off in a great way.

1. Take time for yourself. Take time to shower, to shave and to get some sleep if you need it. Your health comes before everything, and it’s easy to neglect it amidst the hustle and bustle of your daily work, school and social obligations. This year, make a promise to yourself to start taking better care of your body.
2. Get up and do something active for at least thirty minutes a day. Whether it be something like yoga, going for a walk, or standing up and doing jumping jacks beside your desk, any kind of exercise is beneficial.
3. Cut toxic people out of your life. Make 2017 your year to stop letting yourself be treated in ways you don’t deserve. Give yourself a head start on the new year and cut out those people you know don’t deserve a place in your life anymore.
4. Give yourself a monthly vacation. Even if your “vacation” consists of a one spa-day alone in your apartment, find one day a month to take a road trip to a city you’ve always wanted to see or relax for a day and give yourself a pedicure. It will work wonders for your productivity.
5. Stop procrastinating. This is a more difficult resolution to keep, but it’s actually a relatively easy habit to quit. Plan out your days. Give yourself thirty minutes to an hour a day to work on a project. You won’t be cramming and you’ll feel much less stressed about your assignments.
6. Watch less Netflix. Though it hurts my heart to say this, Netflix sucks up so much time you could be using to your advantage. It’s so easy to spend your free time snuggled up in front of your laptop screen for hours, and sometimes binge-watching days are essential. However, it would be much more beneficial to fill some of this Netflix-time with resolution #7...
7. Take up a new, productive hobby. Everyone has something they’ve always wanted to learn how to do, but no one knows where to start. Whether you want to learn a new language, try out yoga or master the art of makeup, there are online tutorial videos and guides to just about anything now. Find a couple videos, sit down and start teaching yourself something new and useful!
8. Write something. Literally anything: poems, what you dreamt about last night or what happened that day. Any of these will not only stimulate your brain, but become relaxing activities that will ease you in and out of sleep.
9. Be honest with yourself about your clothing size. I’ll be the first one to admit that I’m guilty of this. Some people want to believe they’re a Small or a size zero when they (myself included) just aren't. If you don’t fit into a size four, it's totally okay. Sizes vary between different brands, and at the end of the day, the number on the tag doesn’t matter; but how you look and feel in the clothes does.
10. Make a pact with your best friends to see each other or talk on the phone at least once a week. So often people make the mistake of thinking that they're doing their duty of keeping up with their friends through social media. It’s easy to forget that there is so much more going on in our friends’ lives behind the screen. Take time to reach out to your friends and hear their stories from their mouths, not their Instagram captions.
11. Start waking up earlier. Even thinking about this makes me want to immediately nap, but going to sleep earlier and waking up earlier has been shown to have many benefits. Instead of stay up until 2:00 A.M. finishing an assignment, wouldn't it be great to wake up at 6:00 A.M. and work on it with some breakfast and a nice shower?
12. Keep in touch with your family. Family is important, and even if you aren’t close with yours, it doesn’t hurt to reach out every once in awhile. After all, they’re typically the ones that are there for you the most when things go wrong.
13. Read more. Enough said on this one. Find a genre that peaks your interest and browse Barnes & Noble. It’s the perfect habit to establish for beach days and long nights when you just can’t sleep.
14. Eat what you want. Okay, this isn’t an excuse to have ice cream for lunch, but if you’ve been eating nothing but kale and sugar-free gum all day, let yourself have a little treat. On the other hand, if you’ve been good all week but on your cheat day you’re craving a salad instead of a burger, order the salad. Part of the reason people struggle to eat healthy is the huge hype built around traditionally “healthy” food, so abandon the hype and just eat whatever your stomach tells you that you want!
15. Dress yourself up. Sometimes it’s hard to find the motivation to even swipe on some mascara in the morning, but it’s typically a lot easier to go through your day if you feel confident in yourself and how people perceive you. So, sacrifice that extra ten minutes of restless shuteye and put on those cute jeans you bought the other week; who knows? Maybe they’ll make the day a little more bearable.
16. Be honest. Whether this means being honest with yourself, friends, family or coworkers, use this resolution wisely.
17. Stop complaining. This might be the hardest resolution on this list. 2016 was a rough year, no doubt about it, but your attitude about the world around you can affect the way the world affects you. If you really are in a terrible mood, find a way to channel your energy into something productive (see #7!).

After the rough year that was 2016, 2017 has some pretty high expectations to fulfill. Although 2017 may throw some curveballs, you may have a better shot of keeping yourself together by following these resolutions. Happy New Year, and good luck in 2017! Please don’t disappoint.