Broken Circle Breakdown, the 2015 Edition

            We all know what the New Year brings. Resolutions, and with resolutions come gym memberships that cease to be useful for more then a few months, vows to create lasting romantic relationships are thrown away after one too many shots of Fireball, and a long retrospective look into one’s self. The last of which is probably the only thing that is actually followed through into another year.

Self-examination is something that people do on the daily. I don’t think there’s one day that goes by that I don’t think about myself, how can you not? I mean you wake up in the morning and see that face, the one with day-old mascara rings and the dried zit cream and you think wow, I look like crap, I should fix that. Fast forward to an hour later and you’re staring at yourself in the bathroom again, this time with perfectly winged eye-liner and smelling like daisies, or in my case Marc Jacob’s “Daisy Dream.”

 As the day goes on inherently every thought that crosses your mind is about you. It’s like one of those organizational flow charts they taught you in middle school. The first bubble being, “oh I need to get to work,” the second being, “I hope my boss gives me some more hours,” the third entails the calculations of how much money you’ll make for the week if your boss gives you those hours, and the fourth and final leads you right to the shopping spree you are about to blow all of your newly earned money on. This circle of “life” always leads back to your first priority, you.

In being you, what are your first priorities? I literally can’t think of anything that people put above happiness. The main goal in life is to be happy, to find joy, and yeah everyone finds this in different ways. Some achieve happiness through sacrifice, others through chemically induced highs, and even more through simplicity. Happiness is coupled with contentment, which is only achieved when one’s goals of happiness are met.

This leads me all the way back to the resolutions people make in the New Year. Goals are made to be broken but, they’re also made for progress. Yeah lots of people don’t actually follow through with their goals but that’s everyone else. Here’s a little advice when it comes to creating a resolution, be realistic.

Do some serious self-examination, what change would be best for you? Last year I didn’t stick to my resolutions. In 2014 I decided I would journal every day, I stuck to this for about a month and half before having a serious event in my life totally derail my goals for the new year. But in the end I went back to journaling, not necessarily every day but on a semi-regular basis. This act eventually led me to this blog.

Maybe if I had been more realistic, for instance once a week, who knows now but I guess what I’m trying to say is it all worked out for the better, it led me here didn’t it?

It’s not the end of the world if you don’t stick to your New Years Resolution, as I said things change, events happen that you could never expect. Adapt, adjust, and overcome. Remember resolutions aren’t black and white, they are an extremely gray area, one meant for a little ambiguity that provides a lot of wiggle room. I think most of all what people forget is there are three hundred and sixty four other days that one can make a resolution. Goals are good, goals are allowed to happen whenever the need may arise.

As you decide what to focus on, think about yourself, self-examine the inner workings of your mind then think about what makes you happy. After that create a goal, one that leads full circle back to a selfie of your smiling face.

Happy New Year everybody!

          -Leah Q.
Side Note: My title is actually the name of a movie only some of you might have recognized. I believe it's a film of Belgian origin of which its content is pretty much unrelated to my blog post itself but, basically I like the whole idea of circular, cause and effect symbolism and what not. I just like to emphasize my point that a year is cyclical there is always an ending and a new beginning, so with that I bid you adieu.