My New Year's Resolution by Brady

My New Year's Resolution by Brady - January 2016 Scholarship Essay

Generally, I am not the kind of person to make a new year’s resolution; however, I have decided that I will attempt to make one this year. This year I have resolved to remove some of the great amounts of pressure I have placed on myself. As of late, I have found myself letting the stress of school, the uncertainty of life after high school, and life in general get to me. While this has not affected my grades or anything of that sort, I do not want this stress to end up affecting it in the first place, thus, I have decided to make this resolution.
In order to keep my resolution, I plan on setting aside time to enjoy myself each day. Also, I plan to eliminate as much stress as possible from my everyday life. This will involve removing a lot of negativity, and making a concerted effort to become a more positive person. I have already begun my efforts to remove stress. I have taken up meditation, and have challenged myself to say five positive things within an hour after I wake up.
It seems as if my efforts have worked, since I set this resolution I have gained more motivation to study hard and work towards maintaining my position of number one in my class. My confidence has soared when it comes to tests, and even the dreaded pop quiz. My attitude towards learning has improved as well as a staggering increase in my overall happiness. These developments are very encouraging, and I am very excited to see how the rest of the year pans out.
I would like to think that the encouragement that comes from my new attitude and my resolution will compound as the year goes on, and I am very interested to see just how much unnecessary stress I can get rid of. As you know, It is scientific commonplace that generous amounts of stress leads to poor performance in tasks like athletics and scholarly pursuits. Knowing this, I firmly believe that making and maintaining my resolution will allow me to excel as a student in 2016.