I hope you’ve all had a break full of rest and free from stress. Personally, the last couple of weeks have worked wonders for my recovery from the seemingly endless madness of finals week. But alas the old year and semester are over and by the laws of “new year new me”, I’ll go ahead and give you some of my personal New Year’s resolutions that you might enjoy.
1. Take more risks
There is an interchange between risk and reward in any situation. In your case, submitting a college app comes with the risk of rejection. Every college applicant has the fear of being rejected by their top choice school, but apply anyway. This is because the possible rewarding feeling of having the opportunity to attend their top choice school is well worth opening the possibility of failure. Why can’t we apply this resoning to other parts of our lives?
Because we’re raised in a culture that makes us deathly afraid of failure. We’re afraid of the cliché movie scene with all our peers pointing, laughing, and chanting “NERD!” becoming our reality. Well let me be the one to break it to you: everyone, yes everyone, you look up to has failed. We forget that Abraham Lincoln joined the military with the rank of captain and left with the rank of private (a shameful demotion), or that Steven Spielberg was rejected a whole 3 times from USC’s film program. Point is, no one remembers your failure as much as you do and one failure doesn’t mean you’ve failed as a human being, quite the opposite. We as people constantly fail and learn, and succeed and triumph. So go ahead and ask your crush to Winter Formal high school reader.
2. Save money
Do you really need a $400 “hoverboard”? You can get to the other side of the mall just as quickly if you walk.
Oh yeah, and save money in a piggy bank or something. College is expensive. Better yet, use an old shoebox. Do you really need a $15 piggybank?
3. Swallow your pride and admit when you need help
For no one can fill those of your needs that you won’t let show.
4. Adventure.
I’m writing this blog from a friend’s house in the Bay Area who I met in college, along with 2 more friends. I’m an hour plane ride away from my home in Orange County in a place I’ve never been to, on money I have from keeping Resolution 2. But I’ll be honest with you reader, I’m a bit of a homebody who enjoys being in a quiet place with good music and something to read. Shocking, right? But it’s only through leaving our comfort zones that we change as people, by being exposed to new perpectives that alter the fabric that makes our sense of self. You don’t have to do anything crazy (no high school reader, asking someone to a dance isn’t crazy), just commit to trying things you don’t normally do. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.