The last glimpses of 2014 are fading and 2015 is becoming clearer and closer with each passing hour. With the approach of a new year, many people (including myself) contemplate what they want to be different after the ball drops. New Year's resolutions are extremely popular. People want to save money, eat better, or work out more. I used to work at a gym and my co-workers and I would hate the few weeks after the new year when gym attendance would triple and make our jobs far more stressful. While I would resent people coming into the gym, I have absolutely no problem with New Year's resolutions. People reflect on their current lives and then consider what they can personally do to improve their lives and anything they aren't quite satisfied with. I love that resolutions are things people have to do. People (including myself) oftentimes complain about what they aren't satisfied with in their lives but then ignore the fact that sometimes they can do something to improve their situation. Obviously, this isn't always the case, but it is sometimes. The new year and the resolutions people often feel they need to make to be a part of society are ways people can take charge of parts of their life to be happier and better. 

Now, while I fully support New Year's resolutions, they also have their faults. About 92% of people do not keep the resolutions they make. That's a staggering, disheartening statistic. These resolutions are promises to ourselves, and we as a society can't even keep promises to ourselves. Another issue with New Year's resolutions is the postponing of improvement that occurs before New Year's. If people want to change something about themselves, they shouldn't have to wait until a new year starts. Unfortunately, New Year's resolutions are so popular that often that is one of the big times of the year for people to stop and reflect and analyze their lives. However, these faults do not take away from the fact that people should strive to improve their lives and consider how they could change their lives to better themselves.

Allow me to be a hypocrite for a moment. I, like so many other people, am only considering how I want to improve my life because the year is winding down. The talk of resolutions is becoming more prevalent, and I've been reflecting on my life currently and what I want to be different. So, here we are at the cusp of a new year and I'm planning to make some changes in 2015. While I have no problem with the idea of New Year's resolutions, their success rate is so slim that I don't want to call my plans for changes "resolutions" in order to maybe avoid potential failure. But I do have plans for change in 2015, which is partially why this blog exists. 

I've been a college graduate for less than a year and my life has already become a monotonous routine. I wake up, go to work, come home tired, make dinner, watch TV and then sleep. Nothing about my day is stimulating. I used to be very creative. When I was younger, I was always making crafts, drawing and writing. I wrote songs as a teenager and played an instrument. I used to regularly make videos and uploaded them to YouTube. These creative outlets brought me so much comfort and improved my happiness. But I've quit all of these activities throughout the years because "I haven't had time." And honestly, that's bullshit. I've had time. I've just chosen to spend my free time mindlessly being a slave to the internet or the television. In 2015, I want to waste less time and create more. I want to sketch, improve my photography skills, make more videos, and write more. Blogging is one of the many writing outlets I plan to take. So, the birth of the blog is a result of my plan to create more in 2015. Hopefully, I can change. To anyone else planning to change in the new year or any time, good luck. We're in this together.

xx