New Years Resolutions Every 20-Something Should Have

By Judy Lee ‘17

1. Learn something new

A language, an art, a science, how to apply makeup, how to cut your own hair—tons of DIY skills to be acquired out there! Expand your mind and promote not just a culture of learning, but a wrinklier brain!

2. Do something that makes you uncomfortable

This does not mean face your traumas. Those are entirely yours to determine and control in terms of time and place. By “uncomfortable”, I mean something that you might hesitate to do, but wouldn’t mind doing if the circumstances were lined up correctly.

For example, cliff diving. Or even learning how to foxtrot. Or recording a video to put on YouTube. Or talking to a friendly stranger.

3. Get more sleep

As you grow older and your body changes, you start to realize that sleep is way more important than you thought it was. Find out how much sleep you need (varies from 6-10 hrs for people) and make sure to get that minimum almost every night you can.

4. Get a 5-year plan together

What is your career end-goal? What is your ideal retirement age? When will you start that business you’ve been thinking about? What are you doing now that will help you when you graduate college? What more can you be doing to expedite the process?

6. Determine what is keeping you back

What are you afraid of? What are you guilty of? Why EXACTLY do you fear x? Which is your poison: fear, anxiety, hesitance, guilt, denial? Find out, and then reason out how you can slowly overcome these things in concrete steps (preferably small in scale and achievable).

For example, say I’m always plagued with hesitance. I MUST think before I leap every time I even think about leaping. Then I have to think about the consequences I’ve thought up and weigh them against the benefits. Then I have to question if I should do it at all if I have to think about it. Then I have to question why I do anything if I think about it and have thought about it in the past, so on, so on. Here are small steps I could take if I wanted to get over my hesitance and learn to leap without thinking:

1. Write continuously for 10 minutes about my feelings.
2. Make an impulse buy.
3. Have someone ask me rapid-fire questions about anything and blurt out answers.
4. Talk to a stranger in a public place.
5. Play a competitive sport or video game

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