New year, new me, we all tell ourselves as the flashy ball of lights dips lower and lower to the ground. I'll start first thing in the morning -- right now I've got to get some sleep! Unfortunately, sleeping (all the time) is just about the only New Year’s resolution we ever keep past the end of January.
Typically, I don't support making these promises to yourself, simply because I know they're never kept -- and why should they be? What makes a goal set on December 31 while you're getting ready for a party any better than one you set on your birthday or on July 1? In fact, the New Year’s resolution-setting mindset is probably the least successful thing you can do, because you're expected to fail: No one keeps their resolutions, everybody knows that.
Except this year, I have to. All graduating seniors will attest to the “new year, new me” motto, because they'll be experiencing significant, life-altering changes, whether they want to keep up with their goals or not. Graduating from college, finding a job and a place to live, attending grad school, or just moving out of our parents’ house are all major changes that force us into altering our lives for the better, just like resolutions tell us to. Sure, we can run from these things, but embracing a resolution through which we've set ourselves up as capable, organized, and most of all, determined will not only make our life easier, but it will make it more manageable.
I'm choosing to take this in stride and embrace the traditional meaning of a resolution -- something you resolve to pursuing, not giving up on as soon as the Valentine's Day chocolates appear. If I attach myself to this goal of applying to jobs I could plausibly be qualified for, not just ones that sound perfect, and polishing up a kick-a** resume, then maybe I'll actually be more successful -- and at this point, that's not really an option. Come May, I'll need to walk across that stage with some sort of plan under my square hat, whether it be an apartment lease or the motivation to rock an interview.
So it's no surprise that I'm making a resolution come December 31, one that will motivate me to shape my life in a way I can't back away from. As that ball drops, I'll stand there in my sparkly dress, checking my LinkedIn and networking with the woman next to me at the bar. Except I won't be falling with the end of 2015; I'll be waiting in the wings to rise with the new year: time for a new me that I can commit to.
