With the New Year just around the corner, we prepare ourselves for setting and achieving new goals and transforming into a totally new person. Everyone gets asked the question once a year, "What are your New Year's resolutions?" Perhaps it's going to the gym at least five times a week. Getting straight As. Actually volunteering at the humane society every weekend. Giving up soda. Drinking more water. Calling your mom twice a week. While these goals are wonderful thoughts, they just aren't realistic. Of course, for some people they actually stick to their goals and achieve something great. For me, the New year has never been about achieving goals. It hasn’t been about snapping my fingers and suddenly having a brand new perspective on life. The New Year has simply been about reflecting on my past year and thanking God I get to experience a new one. Goals can be set at any point in one's life, which some people don’t realize. It's almost as if as soon as January 1st hits, you are obligated to make some sort of change. From my perspective, you don't have to wait until before the summer season to get a "summer body." You don’t have to wait until basketball season to get in shape. You don't have to wait until spring to tidy up. Why does everyone feel the need to make a change come January 1st? Maybe it’s the idea of starting with a blank slate which appeals to people. Every year is a fresh start and a new beginning. New Year's resolutions are a nice thought, but they seem to hold a false sense of hope. Perhaps, they are a thing simply to just make people feel better. Or possibly people do try to stick with it. Or maybe January 1st is a sort of finish line to end the bad habits that overcome us during the holiday season. Breaking bad habits are a good thing; however, it isn't easy. As my English teacher often says, "It is possible to change your biological nature. It is possible to make any change you want; however, any kind of change will require lots of pain and suffering." So this New Year, I urge you to truly reflect on yourself. If that means setting a goal come January 1st, go for it. But I know when I go back to school on January 2nd, the desks will be in the same positions, the posters will be the exact same on the wall, my locker will be exactly as I left it. Six will turn to seven. The only change this new year will bring for me, is the pain of having to erase 2016 when I miswrite the date out of old habit. New year new me? More like different year, same me.
