In typical college student fashion, I happened to spend a good portion of one of my days off binge watching some of my favorite shows on Netflix, including the one and only, "Grey's Anatomy." As I happened to make it through two wonderful seasons, I heard Dr. Meredith Grey make the following statement:
"Who gets to determine when the old ends and the new begins? It's not a day on the calendar, not a birthday, not a new year. It's an event. Big or small. That changes us. Ideally it gives us hope." - Meredith Grey
This quote made me think about a lot of things. For one thing, I think that we all place a lot of pressure on ourselves each year. Think about it, how many times do we make these New Year's Resolutions that actually happen? I think that setting these goals are great, don't get me wrong, but I also think that sometimes the goals we set can be unrealistic.
A lot of resolutions people make can be anything from eating better to doing a complete 180-degree turn and changing everything about themselves. The latter is what I mean when I say unrealistic.
Some people get this idea that a new year means changing everything about yourself and becoming this new person. What they don't understand is that, no matter what you change about yourself, you're still going to be you.
You can dye your hair every color of the rainbow, pierce your ears, get a tattoo, or even just make a resolution to change how you act, but you're still going to be you. I think it's important for us to remember that no matter what we do to ourselves on the outside to bring out whatever new personality trait we desire, we are still ourselves. All of those traits you admire are already within you and already possible, you just have to bring them out.
I know I'll always be that spunky, sassy ball of energy. No matter what I change each year and trust me, I've changed a lot over the years, I never stray from that because it's who I am. Nothing is going to change that.
On another note, I resonate with this quote because I don't think people should just change one day out of the year. I think that change is a lifelong process. Like Dr. Grey says, it's the events or moments in time that cause us to change. These pivotal moments show us what we desire, our hopes, our fears, and even our mistakes. It's because of these specific moments that we have the realization that we need to make a change for ourselves.
You don't need a special holiday to make a change for yourself. If you were to ask me, I would say a goal in life would be to always change. If you're not changing, you're not growing and learning.
As the new year is here, I know there is a lot that I cannot wait to see happen and many things I cannot wait to see go. The one thing I ask is that you're all conscious of yourself during this time. Be careful not to lose yourself in the idea of change. The point of a new years resolution is to give you something to look forward to. Don't change so many things that you take that away.
In what I've seen from Grey's so far, Dr. Meredith Grey hasn't steered me wrong yet, so here's to the new year. Same old me, just with a more positive mindset.
