When I ended 2017 with a long list of resolutions in order to become a "new" person, I didn’t mention the things I still needed to improve on in the upcoming year — only the things I will start doing more of. I made goals for myself like having more confidence and trusting people more. But what about the things I need to do less of?

Since the beginning of the year, I have started journaling more, opening up to different opportunities, and surrounding myself with positive people. These are all things I have done to take control of what is going on externally. But I didn’t know that, all this time, I had still been carrying a little bit of toxicity in my heart... a little bit of my old ways. It wasn’t until the end of February, when I was quick to make awful assumptions about someone I barely knew, that I realized I have bad habits in need of fixing.

Because of the situation mentioned above, I came to recognize two of my biggest flaws:

1) I judge too quickly

2) I jump to conclusions too easily.

A few weeks ago, I tried convincing my friend that getting into a relationship with a particular girl was a mistake. Based on what I had heard about this “particular” person, I thought I had her figured out and that I had the right to make assumptions about her.

I was angry. "Stop being stupid. You'll get hurt."

I was sad. "Have you changed? Is this the start of a drift in our friendship?"

All the negative feelings that came flooding in were unnecessary. Had I been calmer and more open-minded, I would not have had to start the issue in the first place.

But the worst part of this situation was not how I felt afterwards, but rather, the mere hypocrisy of it all. I've had people assume things about me before. The people who talked behind my back in the past did not even know the whole story, and most importantly, they did not know me.

It was a reverse karma situation. I'm doing the same cruel thing that happened to me to someone else. I am no different from the girl who gave me the cold shoulder because of rumors she heard about me. From the girl who only heard from one side of an argument I was involved in and believed it.

So I'm scratching my "new year, new me" mantra because I still have flaws to improve on. I must learn to judge less and to stop my tendency of assuming the worst. It's time to start working on making myself better. 2018 is the year where I will be showing the people around me (and most importantly, myself) an "improved" me.