Every year, I swear that I'm going to fulfill my resolutions.

I'll lose all the weight I want to lose, love myself deeply, and fix all this stuff in my life. By the time summer hits, I've forgotten even making a single resolution and by December I'm back in the same place I started. I'm very determined for 2017 to be different. I graduate this May and then I have grad school; I want to be in a place where I am achieving my goals so that I can continue to move forward. This year, I've decided to set more reasonable goals in hopes of making the changes I want to make.

These are my five reasonable resolutions for 2017:

1. Lose the weight that I can lose, without making myself miserable or obsessed.

Often, the biggest issue I have with weight loss is that I become obsessed with what I eat, just how much I lose, and how those around me are eating. I hate myself for eating a taco or gaining even .5 lbs when I should be losing 1 lb a week. In the past, I have spent a lot of money to lose weight. No more. I will work hard, work out, and if I falter one day I won't let it set me back. Sometimes, you just need a taco.

2. Write when I can, however much I can, with whatever content I can think of.

Often, I try to set a goal for myself about writing. I promise I'll write something, just anything, every day. I think that just promising to think of something will motivate me to write. Then, at the end of the year I get disappointed about how little I've written. I've gotten worried about how much I can write and then I look at what I can pen and I hate the quality. This year, my goal is to write when I can. Whatever comes to me, whenever it comes to me. That's when I'll be concerned with writing.

3. Love myself even a little bit more.

I thoroughly believe we have to find something we love about ourselves in order to help us remain positive. I am one of the most self-deprecating people I know. I've never needed someone else to put me down because I have it handled. Every year I swear I'm going to have a huge breakthrough in loving myself. But I have a mental illness, so that won't happen. Instead, I just want to love myself even a little bit more. I want to figure out those little things I can love myself for, but I don't expect to have some huge revelation in how over the top wonderful I am.

4. Keep a more open mind.

This is probably my easiest resolution to achieve. I want to try more things and accept more possibilities. I hope to travel somewhere new, eat foods I would have never tried before, and say yes more often. The plan is to try more things, as often as I can. When 2017 is over, I want to have expanded my experiences. There are so many books I want to read, games I want to play, and shows/movies I want to watch. So many things to try this year.

5. Expand my relationship with God.

This is my other downfall, because I look at the resolutions of people around me and think "I have to read the entire Bible this year" or "I have to memorize so many verses." I set lofty goals for my relationship with God and they just never work out. This year, I just want to pray more. I just want to study my Bible more. I want to attend church more and seek out more Christian relationships. I don't want to look back at my year and worry I'm further from God or haven't done enough. He meets us where we are and I want to meet him in a positive relationship.

I know that setting realistic goals for myself will help me achieve my resolutions. Coming next week are the five ways I hope to achieve these goals!