Editor’s Note: Cecilia Lemus, a sophomore at Pleasant Creek School, is our youth columnist for 2021-22. She likes to write and is considering becoming a therapist.
It’s a new year, so why don’t you be a new you?
You can start off by changing the things you can control and focusing on those things, rather than focusing on the things you can’t control or change. For example, you can’t change people, but you can change yourself, so when someone is being rude, be nice.
If you can’t find the light at the end of the tunnel, be the light yourself instead of being rude to those around you because you never know what others are going through. There is no excuse for people to be rude, but there is a reason behind it. A resolution you can make this year is to be kind to others. Being kind can make a positive change in your life because it can make you feel good about yourself.
Enjoy every moment of your life; choose to live in the present because you can’t change or predict the past or the future. We all have our weak moments, but we all react differently to them: we either remain positive through it and learn from it, or we give up and be negative. Since it’s a new year, a fresh start, you can be positive and look for the light through your weak moments.
Being positive through hard things can make a change in your life because it can become a way you deal with hard things. But that does not mean you just ignore the difficult times and your feelings. Instead it means that you acknowledge, learn, do better in the difficult times, and you use that knowledge to improve.
Accept the fact that you aren’t perfect—no one is—and that you are going to make mistakes because you are human. However, those mistakes don’t have to define you: you can learn from them, look at them in the most positive way possible, and move forward.
This year, make your resolutions possible and achievable by being specific and realistic.
