This article will talk about something different than a usual article because it will require the reader to look at themselves personally. I don’t have the answers for you or how you have changed in your year(s) going through Tulane or life in general, but one thing I can assure you is that things do feel like they are or should change in our lives. That’s why most, if not all, of us feel the need to make a resolution because somehow we’re never happy or satisfied with who we are presently. Let me just say that it’s okay to be not be happy with ourselves. It’s okay to fail as well. What should change is this idea that we don’t deserve credit. This doesn’t mean validation from your friends, it means you give yourself the credit and despite what other people think. You should be happy for yourself.
Why do I bring any of this up? I’m asking all of you, have you explored NOLA to your desire? Have you done the things that you want to do to the best of your ability? When you’re finished with an activity or a task, what do you do to recognize the job you did? Do you go drinking/smoking and try to forget like me? Or do you do something that perfectly summates and ends that moment in your life with the bang it deserves? Ironically, drinking/smoking to forget might be perfectly summating that moment as it has for me, but thinking like that is depressing although harshly true.
The point of all of this, the new year and resolutions (or using the recent lunar eclipse as a point of transformation), is to look at ourselves and figure out what doesn’t work in our lives. I know it’s not January 1st anymore, but that’s the nature of the beast called life; there isn’t always going to be that perfect day to tell yourself that you’re ready to get your life together. Sometimes, you need to put your foot down and take control of your life and see this world that you have put off for so long. If your friends won’t go with you, either find others or simply go alone. It can be sketchy and dangerous, but I wouldn’t let the fear of world around you stop you from experiencing life. Yes, that’s easy for a guy to say, but I’m not telling you what to do. Sometimes being afraid and breaking out of your comfort zone is a step that you need to take for your mental health and wellbeing. Imagine you live in a world where you never or almost never take risks in your life; that is a life of somebody who hasn’t really lived in my opinion.
My question to you is: what are you doing for your “New Year, New You?” What are you doing to say “today is a new day?” Are you happy? If there is room for improvement, where does it lie? Do you go out to new places? Do you open up to the people closest to you? Or do you feel trapped despite being in such a big city and big world? Is there something you can do this year to make you happy–I mean truly happy? That is something I constantly ask myself, so know that you won’t be alone in 2019 because there are tons of people out who are also afraid.
COVER PHOTO: Close the Gap
