Photo posted by @timessquarenyc on Instagram
The streets of Time Square in New York City are decked out for the new year. Despite the new norm of social-distancing and no crowds.

Last year, the COVID-19  pandemic brought everything to a halt. Social gatherings, concerts, and going out stopped with stay-at-home orders enforced. Entering 2021, the New Year gives everyone hope for a better tomorrow. With new wishes also come vowed resolutions. 

Personally, when I’ve attempted at establishing New Year’s resolutions, I give up fast. It was because I was applying so much pressure to myself, and never got what I needed to be done. Every time I had to follow my resolution, like “go on a 30 minute walk every day” I contemplated. I overthink about how it will affect me in the long run and I doubt myself. I think, “this won’t do anything good for me” and give up. When I know I can do it, but I’m not in the right state of mind. That is when I stopped setting big resolutions. My mental health was at risk and I had to stop pressuring myself.

Resolutions tend to focus too much on the future. The future and our desire to be better than the person we were yesterday. While it’s important to think ahead, prioritizing yourself now is the key. “I try my best to meet small goals I make for myself throughout the year, like “raise my grade by the end of the semester” or “spend at least 30 minutes a day practicing guitar,” things to keep me busy and focused on school. However, making resolutions isn’t necessary for me” said Jacquelyn Ramos, class of ‘21. Taking things one step at a time, is truly the path to self-improvement. I believe that you can’t accomplish the bigger things without conquering the smaller ones. 

In quarantine, we can’t do much so we have to make-do with what we have at home. The best mindset with all of this leisure time is to take good advantage of it, right? However, that isn’t the case for many of us. I can say on the behalf of the world that we’re all struggling and having the motivation to do anything. The reason being, we’re getting too ahead of ourselves. It’s already a struggle to get out of bed and go to school, starting at a computer all day. It takes a lot of motivation to do that. I think, for the sake of a wildfire virus, it’s okay to not have New Year’s resolutions.  

Entering 2021, everybody needs to realize the world is healing from a pandemic. “COVID-19 gave me a push to actually sit down and force myself to do work. It has pushed me to sit with my own thoughts and just work on myself. It taught me a lot about myself, what I needed, and how to be better” said Ayla Duong, class of ‘21. It’s about focusing on ourselves now. Our well-being, diets, sleep schedule, and our mental health. Self-healing is the process to improving ourselves.