Graphic by Noemi Gonzalez.January is always one of the oddest months of the year. It starts out with a fancy night full of promise and then, only a few days later, we find ourselves back in the monotony of life before the holidays. Our resolutions usually peter out after the first two weeks and we are left wondering if this year will really be all that different from the last.
I'm realizing now that I never made any resolutions this year. Most often I don't make resolutions I know I can't keep, like waking up early every day or getting to the gym several times a week. Last year, my resolution was to choose happiness over sadness and for the most part I followed it. In honor of today being the Chinese New Year (Year of the Horse!), I'd like to make a few resolutions.
The first is to continue to be happy. I've realized in most situations, happiness is a choice. For most of us, dwelling on what cannot be changed is what makes us most blue. I'd like to make sure not to focus on these things and look for what I can make better.
The second is to mind my own business more often. This may seem like a ludicrous resolution considering my major is journalism and we make it our job to not mind our own business. However, I think if I spent less time wondering what other people were up to and more time following my own path I'd be a lot less stressed.
My third – and this is a bit more tangible than my other resolutions – is to be more organized. I have a habit of keeping a mental calendar; I almost never write down my tasks and most of it gets stored in my head. For the most part, this has worked for me and I like to think it helps strengthen my memory. But once in a while, something will slip my mind and I'll be kicking myself when I remember. I have already made some progress with this resolution. A couple weeks ago I switched to Gmail (I know! What took me so long?) and cleaned out my inbox. You wouldn't believe what I was hoarding in there. I found emails from my track coach in high school and old English literature projects from 11th grade. I easily get attached to sentimental objects, but I was just embarrassed to find I had saved these.
Do you have any new Chinese New Year resolutions? Or, perhaps you'd like another crack at the resolutions you made a few weeks ago but eventually neglected. Go ahead, take your second chance.
Reach the editor at newlin.tillotson@asu.edu or follow me on Twitter @Newlin777.
