Yes, it is that time of year yet again, where everyone is trying to better themselves, and make new goals to achieve this year. I am in fact one of those people this year, but not really, and here’s why.

Last year for 2022, I set some goals for myself for the first time. I was not actually believing that I could achieve any of them. They were simply just some ideas for me to say at the family dinner on New Year’s Day. I originally had no intent of actually following through with these ‘goals’.

However I was actually surprised when I actually did achieve the main goals that I set myself at the start of last year by the end of 2022, seemingly without me thinking about them 24/7. My top 3 resolutions were to get a new job, to get a gym membership, and to work on not being co-dependent on other people.

To be fair, I completely forgot about my New Year’s resolutions until about May of 2022, when a gym offered a free membership program for teens over the summer. Since this was right down the street from my house, and I could go with some friends, so my sister and I decided to sign up, after all it was free of charge.

I was never a gym person, and this kind of scared me originally. My whole life I spent playing soccer and soccer only. I had never been exposed to any kind of weightlifting or gym atmosphere of any sort.

I went for a couple days each week over the summer and as months went by, I forgot just how frequently I was visiting the gym, and for free as well. Eventually when summer ended, I just decided to convert my summer membership pass into a regular gym membership, since I learned to enjoy lifting weights and was already used to my routine. I still continue to go to the gym about once or twice a week ever since I converted my membership back in August.

Getting out of my comfort zone was kind of hard for me, but in the end it was actually super rewarding. The gym is now my safe space and I look forward to going every chance I get. I find myself making time to go to the gym a couple days a week and fitting the gym into my schedule regularly. Something I would have never guessed I could dedicate time to at the beginning of last year.

I think what helped me was trying not to bind myself to any specific schedule. On days that I felt like not going to the gym, I didn’t go. On days I felt like going all out and working out for 2 hours, I did. I took it as a day-to-day basis on what my goal was for myself for that day.

I also did find enough motivation in myself to get a new job this year. I have been working on my co-dependency of other people constantly. And while this is still a work-in-progress, I have noticed it’s improved since the beginning of 2022.

For some reason, New Year’s resolutions are very inspiring to me. Years leading up to last year, I was always jealous of when I would see people creating their New Year’s resolutions / goals they set for themselves, because I felt like I could never achieve any resolution I would have set for myself ever.

I am trying to take this motivation that I had in 2022 and convert it over to 2023. It is a pretty important year for me, as it is the year I graduate high school and start college. I’m trying to have a similar method to the one that I had last year, which was actually no method at all.

My main goal this year is to become more organized, as not only am I a major procrastinator, but I am a fairly disorganized person. These two things don’t mix particularly well. That is my main goal this year, as I need to work on this life skill desperately.

That is really the only goal I have thought of so far for me this year. I am just going to trust my method that worked last year and let ideas of things I want to better myself at come to me naturally without trying to stress or worry about achieving them.

From personal experience, the best advice that I can give to anyone trying to better themselves or reach a specific achievement this year, is try not to stress about reaching your goal. Also don’t overload yourself trying to achieve this goal. Do what you think is best for you in that moment. Let your goals flow naturally to you, and I promise it might just come true this year.