It's that magical time of year. Christmas break is here, and you can finally have that mental break you needed, and some much-deserved rest and relaxation. You have ample time to really reflect on the events of the year.

For me, 2015 has been a year of astronomic growth in my personal life. When I think of where I was a year ago--only halfway through my senior year, still on the strenuous college audition trail, run ragged with stress--it makes where I am now feel like even more of a blessing. I've done a lot of evolving. Now that I've tasted what can be accomplished in just a year, I want to continue my personal evolution.

This is why I've always enjoyed the tradition of making a New Year's Resolution. It enables me to put thought into the trajectory I want my life to take in the year to come. It makes me take stock of the year coming to a close--the ups, the downs, the lessons learned. How can I move forward? What will help me move towards being the self-actualized individual I want to be? It is the time of year that forces us to stop, reflect, self-analyze, and appreciate what we have. Who could find fault in that?

And yet, increasingly among my peers, I hear the phrase "My new years resolution is to not have a new years resolution/stay the same" or "New years resolutions are dumb/immature/unreasonable" or some variation thereof. And you know what? Eat your heart out, Ebeneezer Scrooge. Our age group (and some older than we are also guilty) has become so obsessed with their perceived "maturity" that we close our hearts and minds to new emotions and ideas. We've become cynics by choice, because it's seen as cool to be the aloof, mysterious loner. It disturbs and saddens me to see it. I feel like an optimist being tossed about in a sea of pessimism. When did we begin equating optimism with naivete? In a world driven by success, have humans become so petrified by failure that we quit and shut down before even making an attempt?

What are we so afraid of?

"Failure", in the grand scheme of life, isn't the apocalyptic event it is made out to be. Failures are learning experiences. Nobody wants to fail, but it's a part of life. We must take the good with the bad. So before you mock the January/February gym crowd that tapers off in March, or brag about your disdain for New Years Resolutions, think about the root cause of those feelings. And even if you still don't find it in you to set a goal for yourself, please find it in you to respect those who still enjoy it. Be firmly resolved to that much.