First and foremost, Happy New Year everyone! I hope you are all thrilled and curious and ready to embrace 2017 with open arms. I hope you are ready to make this year your year!

With that being said, every year I see people saying the common phrase "New Year, New Me" and I'm sure I've been guilty of that at some point. However, I told myself this year that instead of a "new me", I would just be a "better me".

And all I really mean by this is that I think everyone, including myself, has so many amazing and genuinely good qualities inside of them that instead of completely trying to recreate ourselves, we should all just focus on and improve upon our best qualities and abilities.

So this year I just simply want to be a better version of the 2016 me.

I want to try to find more reasons to smile. Set aside more time for me. Try and eat breakfast everyday. Remind myself that my grades don't define me, but it still doesn't hurt to always try my best.

I want to limit my social media use. But take more pictures for my own personal use and the memories. Read more books and educate myself on something that interests me.

I want to be more kind, but still refuse to let people walk all over me. Be loud and hold people accountable. I want to hang out with people who care for and respect me.

I want to get an internship/job. One I'm truly passionate about. And find a hobby to do in my spare time that I do just because I like it.

I want to remind people that they are important. But also remind myself the same thing. My mental health always should come first and it's okay to take care of myself.

I also need to remember that mental health does correlate with physical health, so it wouldn't hurt to take care of my body. Whether that be with clean eating, exercising, good skin care, or sleeping more.

I want to de-clutter and focus on things that truly matter. Take one day every month to unplug and find myself again.

I so badly want to just love myself and like who I am this year.

And lastly, I want to learn to forgive myself. And I'm sure that will extend to the end of the year when I may have only achieved a select few of these things stated above. But that's okay. At least I have the mentality that I want to do and be better. I think that's enough. I hope it is for you, too.

Happy New Year to all you people bettering yourselves this year. I'm excited for this journey!