It’s 2018 And I Feel Exactly The Same

I want to be excited about the new year. I want to create resolutions and motivate myself to follow them. I want to look forward to what the next few months will bring. I want to tell myself that this is my year the way all of my friends have been doing. I want to think of 2018 as a fresh start. As my chance to change things.

But if I’m being completely honest with myself, I don’t care about the transition into 2018. The ball dropping didn’t make a difference to me. I feel exactly the same as I did in 2017. Nothing has changed except for the number on the calendar. I’m still the same person. The world is still the same place.

I don’t see any reason to make a resolution — not because most people break them and will forget about what they promised themselves by February — but because whenever I find something I want to change about myself, I make the change then and there. I don’t wait until the end of the year to work on my worst habits.

It doesn’t matter if it’s the middle of April or October. I am constantly trying to grow into a better person. I am on a lifelong journey to self-fulfillment. I am aware that I am imperfect, but I’m trying my hardest every damn day of my life to become the kind of person I actually like.

I don’t put off working on myself until the end of the year. I don’t wait until everybody starts preaching self-care to focus on myself.

Of course, it makes sense that the end of the year is the time when most people look back on their successes and failures. When they think about what they are thankful for having. When they ask themselves how they want to change things.

But I do that every single day.

Every single day, I push myself to be more mature, more intelligent, more kindhearted.

Every single day, I think about all of the ways I have screwed up in the past and strive to do better in the future.

Every single day, I work on my personal growth instead of letting myself stay in one place.

Every single day, I make sure that I’m enjoying the now and not not wasting my life away.

Every single day, I try to do something productive, something my future self will be happy about.

Every single day, I try to make myself proud in one way or another.

I don’t wait until the new year to reevaluate the way I have been living my life. I don’t let myself procrastinate, because I care about my mental health 365 days a year, not only once January rolls around.

The shift from 2017 into 2018 hasn’t impacted me at all, but maybe that’s okay. Maybe I don’t need to declare that this is my year and feel a one-time surge of motivation. Maybe it’s better to work on myself every single day instead of waiting for the new year to suddenly change things.