Every year millions of people make resolutions. In the beginning of the year, there are countless “new year – new me” posts. To go along with those posts are the “new year – new me” memes. One of the most popular resolutions might be to go to the gym and eat healthier and an overwhelming number of people fail at their resolutions, hence the memes. Although resolutions are made in good faith, people just get lazy and by the first week or two they have given up. I partnered up with Simonti to write about our resolutions.
There are so many students on campus who are having problems dealing with transitions and certain parts of college life. Since I am a junior now, I have pretty much experienced a lot of the things the newer students are facing. This is why I decided to write about the resolutions I have made with problems I have faced. With these blogs in front of them, the newer students will have stepping stone for their problems. They will have a good idea on how they can go about reaching their resolutions. There are a couple of blogs I think apply to many students. My first blog, where I wrote about entering the freshman year was one of them. I know firsthand how hard the transition of going from high school to college can hit you. They are two very different environments. My second blog was about the typical new year new me resolution but many of us here at UAlbany can relate to it because, for many of us, it is our first year living on our own. It is difficult at first to manage your time with so many things going on around you. My fifth blog about being social will apply to many university students as well, especially the commuter and transfer students. It is hard being in a school with over 17,000 students and barely knowing anyone. The thing I was most afraid of when I was trying to be social was trying not to make a fool of myself. The things you think will make you look like a fool in most cases actually will not.
While working with Simonti this semester, I realized that there are so many different goals people want to achieve. Although the word resolution may have the same definition to everyone, resolution has many meanings. Some of my resolutions may be completely different than Simonti’s. We both have goals we are working toward. Even though resolutions get made fun of a lot, if you are serious about achieving something and are determined, you will, very likely, be able to reach it. You may even fail a few times. It may not be easy, but you have to stay persistent to reach your goals. We should all be respectful of one another’s resolutions no matter how silly we may think they are. No matter what problems you may be facing, you are not alone in your struggles. There are many other people going through the same thing and helping each other will help us get through it with less stress. I hope all of you readers were able to take something away from my blog and I hope it helped you in some way, whether you were going through the same thing as me and needed guidance, or maybe you were motivated by my blogs to start your own resolution. – Anik Paul
It is hard to make a resolution and even harder to share it. There is a lot of judgement on social media. Android users bash iPhone users and vice versa. Older generations mock millennials and then, there is the famous “new year’s new me.”
Although some people have the grand idea of changing themselves completely overnight, I think that deciding that there are aspects one wants to address in themselves is a courageous first step to self-improvement and it is nothing to ridicule, big or small. Admitting to yourself that there are things to change is a big step forward, with or without a plan and it is never anything to be ashamed about.
Starting this project I never realized how many “New Year’s resolutions” I set for myself in the past or how many things there are I still want to improve. The big and little goals in my life ended up really shaping who I am today. They made me stronger, more reasonable, and open minded.
Reading our “resolutionary” blogs throughout the semester, I thought it was interesting to see some of the things Anik worked on and some of the things that he still plans to work on. Some are different from my resolutions and others are quite similar. I really was not expecting to see any of them because he always seems to have it together. This just comes to show that there are so many of us who are working on ourselves. We may seem to be just fine and perfect, but everyone is working, in some way, to improve something or reach a certain goal.
Being someone that is lucky enough to live through the transition between dinosaur computers, to iPad and Nokia phones, to smartphones with the internet readily available with a few touches of a screen, the internet, specifically social media, has shaped and changed the way I think and live my life. Growing up before social media was this big thing we spent half our lives on, I remember not being a judgmental person or holding impressions on people by any means. But then from high school and onward, starting with Facebook and then into Snapchat and Instagram, I noticed myself and the people around me becoming more and more judgmental and making wrong conclusions about others. Noticing this through the semester, while reading Anik’s blogs and being a little taken back that he wasn’t always confident and put together as I thought he’d always been, has made me realize that drawing conclusions based on bits and pieces of information shared on social media really is not fair. It made me realize that everyone is on their own path to self-improvement whether they want to try dong it overnight or over a lifetime and that it’s no one’s place to judge. So this is my resolution for 2018, to keep an open mind about everyone and everything.
Being curious, patient and kind to the people around us really doesn’t hurt anyone, in fact it’s something we need a little more in today’s fast growing environment. Through this project I was able to take a step back and realize that I grew a tremendous amount through the years because of the people I have met on my path, the obstacles I had to overcome, and luck that made me grateful. I hope that everyone who reads this is able to take something out of our project, and hopefully set a resolution, even if it is something really small, because it is also the small things in life that make a big impact over the years.
This is us, just two kids and fellow students that wish you a very Happy New Year full of success and joy. Now go and be resolutionary. – Simonti Banik
Please Note: The views of our student bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the UAlbany Advisement Services Center. These are their stories and their voices.
About the Authors:
Simonti B.
Class of 2019
Majors: Biology and English
Past Blog Theme:
Writing My Own Chapter
Current Theme:
Resolutionary
UAlbany Project MyStory 
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