New Years’ resolutions are actually kind of important. Even if you don’t stick to them past the end of the first week of second semester, they’re good to make you reflect on what about your life you’d like to change. They’re there to get you motivated in hopes that one of them will stick and actually enrich your life.
But a look out of your window in January isn’t exactly the most motivating sight. I know you’d rather stay inside and see how long you can last on granola bars and Vitamin Water until you’re forced out into the tundra. When you’re not even in the mood to step outside, how can you be expected to make substantial changes in your lifestyle? I’ll make it easy for you: here are 8 ways to be just a little bit better in 2014.
Take your face out of your phone while you’re walking around campus. It’ll stop you from bumping into unsuspecting people and/or walking into oncoming traffic, and you also might see someone you know passing on the sidewalk. Also, have you seen the Law Quad? People literally get married there because it’s so beautiful, and you can’t look up from your Twitter feed to see it? Come on.
Never fall asleep without taking your makeup off. Even if you’re dead tired, use one of those makeup-remover wipes so you don’t break out while you’re asleep—you know, for those nights when you’re literally too lazy for soap and water.
Don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s easy to get all huffy when your luggage gets lost or when your iPhone dies or when some guy spills beer on your shirt, but instead of letting it make your cheeks burn, take a deep breath. What’s the actual worst thing that will happen? Those are all material things. They matter much less when you put them in perspective.
Call your parents more. If your mom is anything like my mom, she spends a lot of time worrying about you/if you’re eating/if you’re wearing the wool socks she sent you/if you’ve slipped on ice and maybe bruised something. Give the folks a call and let them know that you’re alive and well and that you love them.
Don’t talk badly about people. You know what they say—great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about other people. When you hear yourself saying something mean about someone else, stop yourself—this is the kind of thing you might need to make a conscious effort to do, but not talking badly about people will legitimately make you a better person.
Don’t waste time on FOMO. Studies show that people who are constantly scrolling through social media have higher rates of depression. Why? Because when you look at your own life, you see the good and the bad—the happiness and the loneliness, the confidence and the insecurity—but when you look at another person’s online persona, you only see the parties, the friends, the glamorous Instagrams. You can’t compare someone’s highlight reel to your outtakes.
Keep a journal. Don’t you want to remember all of your shenanigans from college? Someday, in a really long time, you’re going to be an adult with a family and a briefcase and maybe even a minivan, and all of these fresh memories that seem so distinguishable now will all fade into one fuzzy clump. Write about times that made you feel silly, wild, loved, like a massive college cliché. Include names of boys that you kissed, of friends you met, of places you used to go. It’ll make your future adult self really grateful.
Smile. These are the best four years of your life! As someone once told me, you only have four years in college before you spend the rest of your life talking about college. Also, after you graduate, your life isn’t going to be nearly as awesome as it is now unless you discover that you’re secretly the heir to the throne of a small country or if Tina Fey adopts you. So just statistically speaking, it probably won’t get any better than this.