The start of a new year always brings about a whole slew of emotions. There's the excitement of what's to come. The sorrows for what has passed. Resentment for opportunities not taken and for experiences not fully lived. There's also a feeling that can hardly be approximated. It's the mix of all these colliding on a late-August afternoon when you distract yourself by unpacking your college boxes for the last time instead of unpacking the slew of emotions I just mentioned.

In an effort to make sense of the slew, I decided to keep track of all the things that made me feel appreciative this week. Each grateful moment, regardless of how big or small, I recorded on a scrap of paper, or that night's journal entry, or my iPhone notes.

I encourage you all to do the same: to intentionally reflect on the things in your life that you feel lucky to have. It's amazing how many there are, and it's amazing how few (for me, anyway) you take the time to actually appreciate on a regular basis.

Here are a few of mine that stuck out for me this week: a few blessings that were counted, prompting my gratitude in the moment and my reflective appreciation now. Seeing them all listed out warms my heart, and that was exactly the point. Here are fourteen moments of gratitude for my future self to revisit one day:

• 1.The budding of a new friendship – one you can just feel will be super impactful on this time in your life.
  
• 2.The playlist at Bijou Nails on W 58^th Street, and the pedicures to be enjoyed there while you catch up with some of your favorite people in the universe.
  
  
• 3.Perfecting your Chop't salad order – then enjoying it in Central Park with coworkers who are also wrestling with your stresses of the moment; rather than saying "misery loves company," I'll go with "solidarity is a beautiful thing."
  
  
• 4.The captive audience of your Snapchat streakers who get occasional (okay, frequent) stream-of-conscious accounts of a stressful day, or a joyful day, or a both-in-one day, especially when they (and they always do) reply with little notes of encouragement and love.
  
  
• 5.Dancing in your kitchen to the Lover album and not even resenting Taylor's capital-L love, but instead just daydreaming about the guy – your guy – the one that, even if you haven't met him yet, will one day worship the very ground beneath your feet.
  
  
• 6.Recognizing your passion for your school – your home – and watching that passion transfer to someone new as you hand out fire safety packets.
  
  
• 7.Mini reunions that make your heart swell, because they remind you once again of what it feels like to have soulmate friends – yeah, that's plural.
  
  
• 8.Random sister phone calls that turn into hour-long talks about all the little things and all the big things all at the same time.
  
  
• 9.Staying out too late, stretching out your favorite jeans with the dance/sweat combo, and getting too little sleep, but regretting absolutely nothing and vowing never to forget unforgettable Fordham moments like these.
  
  
• 10.Friends (your mom and Taylor Swift included) who remind you of the beauty and the fun, especially when everything in you wants to focus on the gloom.
  
• 11.The mutual, unspoken agreement among your hallmates to pretend they can't hear your singing in the shower…and in the kitchen…and in the bedroom picking out your outfit…and anywhere else in your gorgeous single apartment that you love.
  
  
• 12.The not-totally-healthy nightly Pop-Tart habit (cookies n' cream, if you're wondering) that you picked up over a renewed obsession with reruns of Gilmore Girls: the greatest way to unwind at the end of a long day – or maybe a string of long days.
  
  
• 13.Fresh flowers that you arrange yourself – and the gut reaction to take note of the precise species name, because it reminds you of your dad.
  
  
• 14.The city lights reflecting on the water on the Ram Van ride home, reminding you once again that you get to call New York City home.