A time of self assessment

Me, Myself, and I

Tara Burner once said, “ Be you. Do you. For you.” Her view on life is more about taking care of yourself than caring about others every second of every day. For the past few years, my year was all about others. How I could help them, how I would act toward them, and learning to put them first. I have been living like this for so long I forgot about me. This year my one-word resolution is ‘ me’, and this word will help me improve my social, school, and home lives.

In my social life, I tend to be a constant listener and follower, but now it’s time for me to do what I want and say what I want for the happiness of me, not others. I tend to be quiet about my feelings in social interactions because I’m caring more about how others are feeling and less about how I am feeling. For example, if I had to go somewhere, but someone had stopped me to talk to me, expecting it to be a short conversation. But if it turns into something longer than that, I have the habit of not stopping them for I am scared that they will be mad or upset that I didn’t want to listen to them. But now applying the word “ Me” to my new year will help me learn that in this situation I have to think about how I feel as well, while still considering their feelings.

When it comes to my school life I need to be more concerned about how I’m doing not how well others are doing. I need to learn to really care about how well I’m doing and to start encouraging myself to do better in school and not just my friends. For example, before a test or quiz I will, without thought, tell my friends “ good luck,” and “ you’ve got this”, while I will tell myself, ‘ oh no you don’t get this’, or “ well, I’m gonna fail”. I need to focus more on how I treat myself during school and how I discourage or encourage myself. So, while I will still wish my friends good luck, I will also start telling myself good luck and that I’ve got this. And in the long run, if I start focusing on me, I believe that the way I view myself in school will become more positive and reassuring.

In my home life, the word “ me” will improve not only my self-awareness but also my self-care/health. I need to learn to focus on me when I get home, not how my friends are doing, not if they hurt and if so how can help, but how I am feeling and how I am doing. I have a tendency to ignore or push away any pain, either physical or mental, because I know people have it worse than me so I should stop complaining. But I have realized that there will always be someone in more pain than me no matter what I do. So I need to just stop thinking of others when I’m in pain and start thinking of me and taking care of me, not just others. If I do this, I believe it will help me become healthier and more aware of knowing how I feel.

Resolutions are supposed to better your life in many ways, not just one, and the word “ me” betters several aspects of my life, such as my social life, helping me think about how I feel in situations more, school life, helping me be more positive towards my future, and my home life, helping me have more self-care. And just like Tara Burner, I will be me, I will do me, only for me.