That time of the year is here. 2018 is coming to an end and with it a time full of reflection. We start thinking about our New Year's Resolution, a goal we want to achieve in the upcoming year. The holiday season is coming to an end and with it the hope of ending some of those nasty habits we don't want to take with us in the new year.

Every year I set the same resolution, stop biting my nails. This has been my intention for as long as I can remember, but somehow, I am never able to achieve or maintain my goal. Anxiety, nerves, and stress get the best of me, and I fall down the rabbit hole of biting my nails and cuticles until they bleed.

Why is it that I keep creating the same goal for myself knowing I will never achieve it? Is it because if I don't have the mentality that "this year will be the year" I am essentially giving up on myself? Even as I write this, I am nibbling on my hands. It is about time I end this impulse, one that also landed me in a hospital in a foreign country.

Truthfully, I am not a fan of New Year's Resolutions. Why do we need one year to come to a close before we can set the intention to create change or practice something different? Shouldn't we be utilizing every new day as an opportunity to start a new chapter of our lives?

During the middle of the year, or even as early as March, I hear people saying they already fell off the wagon when it comes to their resolutions. I think establishing these resolutions automatically sets you up for failure. We should not be placing pressure on ourselves to drink more water, work out more, be more present, or stay off our phone. When we don't accomplish our goals, we feel like we have let ourselves down or failed in a sense. That is not true.

I understand the mentality to set these resolutions. Having a goal for the year makes us feel as though we are starting 2019 on the right foot. However, they do not make or break a year. Maintaining or neglecting our goals does not determine how the year will turn out.

I might not have stopped biting my nails, but I achieved more this year than I thought possible. I wrote more and achieved other goals I set for myself, not just my "resolution." Instead of reflecting on your year thinking about what you want to change, think about the magnitude the year had. What good happened and what could be potentially better.

Regardless of whether you compose a list of resolutions or not, make 2019 your year full of everything you could potentially want out of life. Happy New Year!