Setbacks on your journey doesn’t mean leaving the path entirely – The Cauldron

By Nathan Paris

It is only the second month of the new decade, and many people have given up their resolutions. It is the typical things like going to the gym twice a week, cutting out chocolate or reading a book that people usually give up on by February. Changing your lifestyle is difficult all around, but especially in college. 

This year, I decided I wanted to do something different. I wanted to make a resolution that I could cultivate into my life. I decided that I was going to invest in myself and my happiness.  This decision didn’t happen in one day, on a good day when I was feeling invincible or when tragedy struck. It happened in a lot of little ways over the course of a very long time, though it happened to come to a head when I was thinking of New Year’s resolutions. 

This is a resolution that doesn’t have a clear path to follow because investing in yourself is all about listening to yourself and what you need. Making a conscious decision to put your needs first is empowering. This decade, I will be in my twenties for most of it, and something that is very important to me is really getting to know me. 

Understanding yourself is the greatest gift you can give yourself. When you understand who you are, you have the power to respond accordingly in any situation. Everyone should take the responsibility of knowing who they are. 

So far, I’ve learned that investing in yourself is not lavish and neat, but honest examinations with hard work. Being receptive to your way not being the best way is important too, even if you always thought it was. Sometimes, I get to buy a new face wash and drink coffee with every meal, other times I need to spend six hours doing homework. Other times, I get to go out and kick back with friends, and sometimes all in the same day. Finding your balance and groove is so important, and college is a time where you can educate yourself on you. 

Making this decision has allowed me to have revelation after revelation, while also helping me relax into my life. How I have gone about my process may not be how you need to go about yours, and that is OK. I just hope you realize that you are worth the investment, especially one that has a lifetime warranty on it. However, you need to go on learning about yourself and practicing joy, do it. Unless it involves directly harming other people, don’t do that, that’s not punk rock of you. 

We are never too young or too old to learn about ourselves and make ourselves better. It does not need to be Jan. 1, or even the beginning of a new month, to change your life. Start changing it now in whatever way you want, however you can. Then, just keep going. You’ll know when you reach your destination, and then you’ll continue on to another one.