It’s finally 2022. And, yes, here we go again! It’s just about the time of year that people begin acting — or not — on their inspiring and hopeful New Year’s resolutions to transform their lives in a few seemingly easy steps.

 I originally intended to provide advice on how to write a strong and attainable new year’s resolution. Yet, upon considering it, I realized something. Who am I to give advice? I am the queen of setting difficult-to-follow New Year’s resolutions that I follow for about a month and then leave “to next year”. However, this year I’m going to do things differently. It may already be over a week into the new year, but no one ever said that you have to change your life completely in one week.

So, I am focusing on simple lifestyle changes that aren’t overly ambitious or drastically different from my current routines. In 2022, I am working on gradually improving my habits, with a slow and steady pace that will allow me to healthily build on my current lifestyle and schedule.

With the arrival of 2022, surely you or someone you know is set on completing a resolution — often ones that they’ve made in years prior. I am quite familiar with the concept of a repeat New Year’s resolution. In 2020, I told myself I would work out every day (and I did, for a while), then in 2021 I said the same, but what I didn’t consider was the change in my life schedule from high school to quarantine to college.

So here is how I am realistically planning to improve myself for 2022. With five do-able resolutions that I will keep in mind as the new year unfolds.

1. Do one activity that I genuinely enjoy every day.

I believe this simple and easy resolution will help make my weekdays more productive and manageable since I work best when in a positive state of mind. An enjoyable activity may be going on a short walk, listening to music or a podcast between classes or grabbing coffee with friends to just hang out and take a break. I think it will be motivating to have breaks in my days to escape busy schedules for a little while during the school week.

2. Make time for wellness.

I am no fitness guru — hence the previous not-so-successful fitness resolution — but I would like to do some form of physical activity every single day. I am hoping to go to the campus gym and continue the workouts I began over break. The year 2021 taught me that there will never be time for working out if I don’t make the time. To conquer this personal time obstacle, I will pick a consistent time that I can do a short workout in my room, go on a walk or hit the gym.

3. Practice balanced eating. 

I love food. I love trying fun coffee, getting dessert in the dining hall and having late-night snacks, so 2022 will not put an end to that, but rather emphasize balance. I am going to make conscious decisions to limit my intake of unhealthy foods while still enjoying what I eat. For example, last semester, I realized I love freshly brewed hot coffee just as much as the sugar-filled iced coffee alternative. It’s the small changes that add up. 

4. Make my bed each morning. 

Making my bed in the mornings will provide me with a consistently clean workspace that I think I will find motivating as I kickstart the day — and I’m sure my roommate will enjoy the view of my beautifully cleaned side, too! 

5. Drink more water.

Drinking more water seems so unbelievably easy; however, living in a dorm with no water on my floor did not inspire me to hike down five flights of stairs to fill my water bottle last semester. This semester I am promising myself to take the three minutes that it requires to go fill up my water bottle. I should be drinking about 2.7 liters of water a day, or three times my 32-ounce water bottle a day — a nice concrete goal for me to achieve each day.