By Smarty Teen Blogger, Clare Gibbons
The start of the new year offers something of a clean slate for everyone to start with as it gives people an opportunity to improve themselves or certain aspects of their lives with their New Year’s Resolutions. This year however, I faced the same problem as many of my friends: I could not think of a New Year’s Resolution.
I realized that many people my age either don’t have resolutions or have the same resolution. The most common ones I could think of was wanting to be more fit, to eat healthier, to make more money, or to manage time better. I realized that all of these resolutions were perfectly fine, but they weren’t really anything I wasn’t already trying to do or doing in my everyday life. By the time New Year’s Eve had come around I still had not thought of a good resolution, and at that point figured that I would have to take up one of the generic resolutions that I felt I was already keeping up with.
My family spent the holiday on Hilton Head Island, and on New Year’s Eve four of my closest friends and I went to the Harbor Town Lighthouse to watch the ball drop at midnight. Just before the ball dropped my friends and I talked about the past year and the year to come. We realized that in exactly a year we would be getting college acceptance letters, and then shortly after we would be graduating high school, then going to college in a matter of months. In just a few seconds I felt like the next year and a half had already passed, and to say the least I did not like it. It was so easy for me to think about where I want to be in a year. I want to be getting my college acceptance letters to the schools I applied to. I want to have just finished a successful school tennis season. I want to have gotten much better at piano. I want to continue doing well in school and stay close with my friends and family so I can maintain good relationships with all of the people I love after I go off to college. I realized that all of these things were my resolutions. These were the things I want to have accomplished in the next year, and these were my goals. It turned out that I knew exactly what my resolutions were, I just had to work out how to successfully accomplish them.
Many people have a hard time thinking of their resolutions, but after talking to my friends that night, we all realized that we knew exactly where we wanted to be in a year and that was the easy part of coming up with a New Year’s Resolution. The hard part was trying to figure out how to get there and what you could do to get there. I made a list of the things that I wanted to do within the next year and started brainstorming over what I could do to achieve them and make my year worthwhile. On New Year’s Eve I realized that this holiday is a glimpse into your future, and where you want to be in exactly a year. It is a reminder of your goals, and it gives you the hope and motivation needed to accomplish them.
Where do you want to be next year, Smarty readers?
