At the beginning of 2018, I didn’t just make New Year’s resolutions; I made a plan to change my entire lifestyle. I was trying to adjust to freshman year, dealing with anxiety–more specifically a bizarre phobia, getting too drunk and pushing away nice boys. It was not super apparent to people that I was struggling, but I just was not feeling like myself and I needed to fix it. I recognize that these problems are by no means massive, but there was a lot of self care and growth that needed to happen. I decided the goal of 2018 would be to become my best self. This was not a quick resolution that wouldn’t matter by March. I fully recognized that this would be a process, but I was ready for it, and more importantly, I was excited for it. I started saying, “It’s 2018,” constantly, a term that came to mean, “become your best self,” and fits into all different kinds of scenarios and works as many responses.
I slowly implemented positive changes into my life throughout the year. I actively started to work on my anxiety and phobia, I began going to see a counselor at school which started the process of finding a psychologist that is a perfect fit, I stopped trying so hard to be an ice queen and let in a nice boy for the first time ever, and I began to appreciate how awesome my life at school is and accepted being away from home. It’s 2018 became a movement. My whole family and my friends all knew about it, and they all saw the effects gradually. All my friends started to say, “It’s 2018” and started to work on making their own 2018 lifestyle changes. One of my friends got me a sign that says, “It’s 2018,” so it’s the first thing I see every morning.
By the fall, my friends said I was glowing. I was working toward mental health, I had found a psychologist I love, I was in a great place with my friends both at home and at school, I had a great boyfriend, and overall I was actively making decisions that would most positively affect my life. As great as all the positive choices I was making were, what really was making a difference was the fact that I simply decided I wanted to become my best self. It was that simple.
As 2018 came to an end, I was unsure of how the mantra would change. I wanted, “It’s 2018” to remain being a synonym for, “become your best self,” but so much of the idea is moving forward. When the ball dropped and the clock struck midnight, I instantly started saying, “It’s 2019.” It flowed instantly.
I could not be happier that 2018 was all I had hoped. Don’t get me wrong, I was not a complete disaster a year ago, but there was so much self care and improvement to be done. The process of self care, self improvement and self love is obviously never ending, and 2019 will bring the same focus on self improvement and simply deciding to work toward my best self. I recommend to all you sisters to simply decide to become your best self–and it will literally happen. This is not meant to be preachy, but I have seen how that simple choice truly changes everything. It’s 2019!