There are two types of people who appear after the start of the year: the people who go to school in workout gear and post selfies saying “new year, new me” and the people who don’t believe in New Year resolutions and say “new year, same me.”

For the first type, let me help you, you’re doing it all wrong. For the second group, don’t change it if it ain’t broken.

New Year’s resolutions bother me. Not because people only keep them for a short amount of time, or because they are frequently impractical, but primarily because they are often based on affecting your physical appearance. Why? Why do we live in a society that’s main focus is being skinny and/or attractive? The only thing you can fully control, is bettering your “inner self.”

Being an athlete myself, I have times in my life where I will put on more weight because I am not working out 20 hours a week. The weight I add on to my body however is not a bad thing.

I am healthy, I am strong… but I do have more of a tummy at those times. I eat and workout according to how I feel- the new year should not be the indicator on what your body has been telling you to do. Being young, our bodies are changing at rapid rates, and the new year should not be based on trying to be ideal for that hot football player, it should be about educating ourselves and enjoying these precious years of our lives.

The way I better myself, my way of New Year’s Resolutions, is realizing the pros and cons of myself, changing to adapt to be an overall better human. One thing that I did last year and I continued this year is making a personal addition and subtraction chart.

This doesn’t have to be a big thing. Mine was on a coffeehouse napkin and after I posted it, it served as a constant reminder to better myself as an individual, which in the end, made me like myself more and therefore feel more confident. For example, I wrote “lose being bitter when you are not invited to things” on the subtraction side, and added “be more honest with mom and dad.” Changing yourself on the inside during these important years of your life should be a higher priority than changing something that is constantly changing.

In order to move forward in your life and progress as a human being you have to be willing to take a step back and think, how can I be better?

To conclude, please lose the fake workout gear, please, it’s killing us all. And be honest with yourself. It might be hard to realize your flaws, but in the end, it’s the only way to improve yourself not only for your individual happiness but also people’s liking of you. As I said before, these college years should be about fixing your interior because beauty fades but intelligence and being a good person does not.