Every year you hear friends, family, and strangers on the Internet talk about how the new year will come with a new them. “New year, new me,” reads every single tweet on my timeline.
It’s hard to steer away from cliche phrases and resolutions spewed on the interwebs, but come on, you can think of a better New Year’s resolution than that one. A more realistic one. A “new me” in the context of every tweet online seems like a new person dropping friends and becoming bitchier.
I’m not going to say that it’s stupid to make New Year’s resolutions because I don't think it is. It’s helpful to create goals for yourself to motivate you, even though the new year is honestly just a new, regular day.
Create resolutions to create a better future for yourself (as long as you follow through with them, of course). But make sure to create realistic goals and not sacrifice friendships and relationships in order to be a “new” you.
Your friends from the year before will remain the same friends the next year, so instead of attempting to drop everyone you care about, consider the circumstances you’re in. If you’re in a crappy situation with someone, try to fix it and make forgiveness and understanding something new you wish to work on if it’s hard for you now. If you’ve realized you hurt the people you love involuntarily, try to change the way you treat them and show them you care in a better way. Maintain healthy relationships in your life so you can prosper and grow along with the people that impact you positively.
As the years come and go, learning from the years that have passed is the hardest, but most useful thing to do. Just like every day you should grow from your mistakes, you should do the same in the new year. If you choose to use the new year as a stepping stone to being a better you than do it! A “new” you should not consist of unhealthy decisions that will ultimately harm you; make a new list of goals for the year that will change you for the better and create a better atmosphere for you and your friends.
This is equally as cliché as the “new year, new me” resolution, but maybe a little more realistic.
