At the end of 2018, I knew it was time to start thinking again about the infamous New Year's Resolution. But I knew that I did not want mine to be like everyone else's. I knew that making my New Year's Resolution something extremely unattainable was pointless because it was never going to work out. In my journey to self love, I decided on something small, manageable, and efficient.

To say yes to everything (within reason, of course).

If you know me, you know that I talk about this quite often. I can honestly say living by this rule has completely transformed who I am as a human being. Of course, I wasn't saying yes to doing drugs in some sketchy bathroom, because that isn't something that leads to positive change and that's what this is about. At the start of 2019, I started saying yes to social outings and yes to every opportunity that came my way. I began to socialize with people I never thought I would ever even talk to. I stopped being a pessimistic homebody, and I became the social butterfly I once was in my childhood. This allowed me to accomplish so much.

Saying yes to everything the first half of the year was hard, but it served as a "training" period for me. Around August is when my life really began to transform. I was about to leave for college and little did I know so many opportunities were about to open up for me. I started writing for Odyssey, I was recruited into the sorority of my dreams, and I met some of the best friends I've ever had. I began to take on leadership position after leadership position which helped me to grow immensely. I'm now part of student government, and I currently serve as the president of my Odyssey chapter.

Now, I'm making it sound easy. I'm warning you, it's not. There are days where saying yes to things was the exact opposite of what I wanted to do, but I found that the days I'd rather cancel plans and stay-in ended up being some of the best nights of my life. Also, taking on all this responsibility was extremely difficult for me. I struggled with the idea that I wasn't good enough or responsible enough to take on all of this. My parents worried that I was overwhelming myself, and maybe I was. Maybe I still am. But I'm having a great time doing it.

I don't quite know what my resolution for next year will be yet. I don't know if it will be as successful as my 2019 one has been. But I know that I've changed completely, for good.