I've noticed something lately. I always want every new year to be a better me. Every year I set goals for myself that I honestly never achieve and that's due to many factors. What I've finally realized is that real change isn't always a completely new start.

Re-starting something from scratch is not always a bad idea: sometimes things just aren't working out, and you need to evaluate not only yourself, but the relationships you have with everything and everyone. Sometimes though, it just needs more work. Sometimes starting over isn't the change you need in the New Year, sometimes it's looking at what you have, and finally accepting it (like your beauty), or fixing relationships you're lax on (professional, maybe?). The trick, at least for me, is knowing the difference between starting over and re-evaluation, especially because on paper they're not that different.

I believe the difference stems into the other. If you're trying to physically be a new person in 2017, lose those extra thirty pounds even, I believe you need to be on a solid two feet with the person you are now to transition healthily: losing weight should come from wanting to mold the body you have, not erasing it completely, especially because at the end of the day it was your body that lifted you out of bed, showered you, and took you out into the world, and even protected you.

There isn't any shame in not even trying anything for "new year new me", either. If there isn't anything you feel you need a fresh start for, even better. At the end of the day, bettering your person should be the end goal.