As the freshness and newness of 2018 is still being soaked up, we find ourselves creating New Year’s resolutions. Setting new goals. Making these to-do lists and bucket lists of things we want to do, or stop doing, upon entering the new year.

We can’t help it, it’s in our human nature. That’s why we have bedtime and weekends and laundry days; it’s so comforting and exhilarating to have a fresh start. We need them.

However, they can also be overwhelming. The beginnings of new things like semesters and relationships can send all kinds of mixed signals, and you’re not alone if you’re already receiving those mixed signals from 2018.

My 2017 bucket list for myself included things like change my major, chop all my hair off, declare my minor, travel somewhere I’d never been before, attend at least three concerts, become the publicist of my university’s literary journal, and join my university’s concert band, and that’s not even close to being half of the goals I’d set for myself and fun things I wished to embark on.

After writing this list last January, it was pretty safe to say I was discouraged at its length, wondering if it was really possible for little old me to even put a dent in the list. But here we are, on the other side of it looking back, and the only thing I wanted to do in 2017 that I didn’t was run my first half marathon.

I’ll let you take a guess what is at the top of my 2018 bucket list.

The point of this article is in no way shape or form to toot my own horn, it’s to scream “YOU CAN DO IT!!!!” to you from the sidelines of your life. If I could follow you, precious reader, around with a banner and a pom-pom everywhere you went in the least creepy way possible to cheer you on in all of your 2018 endeavors, I would do it in a heartbeat. There is nothing too big you can’t achieve, and I so desperately want you to believe it.

This is your fresh start. This is your brand new beginning. This is your today is the day, this week is the week, this year is the year. Frankly, don’t even finish reading this page, this minute is the minute! Whatever your heart desires, whatever your being craves with every inch of fiber you posses, now is the time to go get that something.

J K Rowling was an unemployed single mother when she wrote her first book. Her net worth is now one million dollars.

Beethoven published his first work, 9 Variations in C Minor for Piano, when he was 12 years old.

Jennifer Lawrence began acting when she was only 14 years old and she is now the highest paid actress in the world. She’s 27 and her films are grossing over 5.5 billion dollars worldwide.

Lorde was only 16 years old when her famous single Royals reached #1 on U.S. charts.

Vera Wang didn’t decide she wanted to be a designer until she was 40 years old.

Stan Lee, the creator of Spider-Man, didn’t start drawing superheroes until he was 43 years old.

Henry Ford didn’t create the revolutionary model T car until he was 43 years old.

Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” didn’t reach and impact the scientific community until he was 50 years old.

It’s not too late for you to follow your heart and your dreams. It isn’t too early either.

I am not trying to mislead you and have you convinced it’s all going to be a peace of cake and you’ll have a symphony, novel, or car model of your very own out in the world by next week, but I am saying it’s possible. It is possible. It’s going to be hard, it’s going to take all the time and effort you have, you may feel like quitting, you might even shed a few tears, but if at the end of it all your heart bursts at the seams with an uncontainable joy and your being rejoices in fulfilling its calling, it is worth it.

We are all made with a unique, distinct purpose with unique, distinct passions. There is only one you who can do what you are made to do better than anyone else.

You are strong.

You are valued.

And this world needs you.

Beholding is a way of becoming. So go behold what your individual longing is, contemplate it deep in your heart, and become who you were made to be. This lifetime, this year of 2018 in particular, is absolutely and utterly fascinating, don’t let it escape you.