Welcome Back, Everyone!
By: Caia Bevins
It is the beginning of the Spring Semester, and everyone is back on campus for the rest of the school year. I don’t know about you, but I am super excited about this semester. Some of you may be Freshmen, a little more confident with a semester under your belt. Maybe you’re a Sophomore or Junior, settling in for another semester of work to achieve your goal. Or maybe you’re lucky enough to be a Senior, and you’re on the homestretch toward graduation. Whichever category you fit into, it is always a good thing to start the semester off on the right foot. It is a new year, after all, and with that comes new year’s resolutions.
I always had a problem with new year’s resolutions, to be honest. They always seem doomed to fail. Everybody starts out strong, don’t get me wrong. But the problem is, for most people, their resolution may be to be active, and they’ll do great for a few days, and then by January 7, they’re back to sitting on their couch watching YouTube. So how do you stop this from happening?
You could start by coming up with an attainable goal, something that you can actually achieve. Be realistic. You’re not going to become an Olympic athlete in one year. Instead, start thinking about things that might be good for you but also doable, like eating breakfast every morning or taking an hour every day not to be around electronics (yes, that includes your phone). You could make it a goal to read every day or take a few minutes to tidy up your dorm room and put your stuff away. Now that you have some ideas think about something that you could do. Do you have an idea? Great.
Now that you have your idea think about whether you can reasonably incorporate it into your daily life. Maybe you can’t take an hour-long break from electronics, but you can do half an hour. Maybe instead of eating breakfast every day, you make it a goal to eat lunch every day. Tailor it to your needs and schedule. Maybe you chose a goal like walking a mile every day, but then you remembered where you live and realized that you don’t like the cold or treadmills all that much. If so, then go back to the drawing
board and think of something different.
Once you figure out something else, make sure you find ways to make sure that you succeed. If your goal is 10,000 steps, get a step tracker. If it is to read every day, create a reading log. Set reminders on your phone, put a sticky note next to your light switch, or get someone to check in on you to make sure you are doing what you’re supposed to. Find a way to succeed.
Finally, don’t just give up. If you skip a day or two, keep trying to achieve your goal. You are doing this to
better yourself so keep that in mind. You can do it, just keep working at it and put your best foot forward. Best of luck!
