Once again, we’ve come to the start of a new year. This time of year, most everyone is thinking about their New Year’s resolutions, reflecting on last year, or dreading returning to school, work, or both. I’m no different; I’m trying to give these things the thought they deserve too.

However, I am doing something different this year: I’m taking a J-Term class that has me back at school after two weeks of winter break instead of four.

Being back at school early makes me appreciate UVA during the winter, perhaps even more than the spring and fall. The school seems to be in stasis, wrapped in a silent cocoon of potential for a new year. Despite the agony of subjecting myself to more school than strictly necessary, I’m coming into the new year with positivity and encouragement. If my 2017 was anything to judge by, I’m sure I’ll need both of them in the year to come.

My J-Term class is a seminar called Counterfactuals and Conflict, a special topic from the Politics department not offered during the fall or spring semesters. Basically, it deals with “what-if” questions of history and politics; things like what if there had been no Hitler, what if the U.S. had lost the Cold War, etc.

Thinking about “what-if” questions got me wondering about my own year in review. If I had made different choices, would my year have gone differently? For example, what if I had kept smoking weed, or quit my interim job, or decided to not come back to school?

Now, the foremost objection to this kind of thinking is the same for both the class and my own experience; what use is there in thinking about what MIGHT have happened? It didn’t, so why should you waste energy on it? My response to that would be that it teaches the value of decisiveness and makes me thankful for what I DO have, rather than dwelling on what SHOULD be.

While New Year’s resolutions have a certain value, I think that the willingness to change yourself should not be limited to just one time of year, but should inform your everyday behavior. If you make every choice with self-improvement in mind, then slow, gradual improvement is much more likely to happen for you as opposed to isolated, one-time declarations during the new year that more likely stem from drunken, regretful musings than a serious commitment to change.

Also, focusing too much on what you think your life should be like as opposed to how it actually is seems like an unhealthy mindset that breeds only vague regret and resentment. Clearly, these aren’t feelings conducive to having a good year. While I appreciate the new year as a time for reflection, it’s important to maintain a sense of serenity too; draw encouragement from your successes, make peace with your failures, and carry on with a renewed commitment to be better, not just a new one.