We are more than a month into The Year of The Pig and I can already feel a promise in the air of change and new beginnings. Like a bird quivering on the branch of a peach tree, my sense of trepidation is held up by my sense of adventure and my need to take flight.

Often when I start to think of New Years Resolutions, I try and think of ways to reinvent myself. But this year, someone very smart told me to reflect on the path my life has followed from 2017 to 2018 and to see if I am happy with the progress I have made since then. Following from that, I devised a list of resolutions that will build and strengthen my character and personality rather than break them down and reinvent them. In the past, reinventing myself and trying to be someone I’m not in order to try and revolutionize my new year has never followed through or lasted long at all. I have found it to be like entering a relationship with someone and lying about who you are: Eventually you become unhappier as the true you gets smothered by an unattainable version of you. I often strive for perfection in my New Years Resolutions by developing a ridiculous regimen to whip myself into shape complete with dietary restrictions, a killer exercise routine, a packed study schedule, and very little time for a social life or myself. I have ultimately realized that these resolutions can be seen as innocently designed to improve my life, but I take them too far when they threaten my mental health. That is the last thing I want to do in the final year of my undergraduate degree, the year I turn 21, and the year I complete my 100 Days of Courage.

That being said, here is my list of kinder more hopeful New Years Resolutions for 2019:

XO