New Year's Resolution: Imperfection by Kayla

New Year's Resolution: Imperfection by Kayla - December 2020 Scholarship Essay

When one thinks of a New Year's resolution, they often think of pursuing something new, different, or try to make a change in their life. Education resolutions can follow the same path. Students may desire to make all A’s or to be more involved in their community. Academic perfection, or at least striving for it, is another common New Year’s resolution. Goals such as these are not terrible. They can be very beneficial. If a goal based around perfectionism is too lofty though, it could be detrimental. This is why my New Year’s resolution for the year 2021 would be imperfection.

A goal based around perfectionism is good, but my goal would be imperfection. This goal centers around the mental health of students. As a nursing student, academic perfectionism is important. A nursing student needs to know and understand the presented information to provide the best care for their future patients. The knowledge is an important factor in patient care, but a nurse- as well as a nursing student- must first care for their own health. This includes their mental health. Students are trying to balance school, family, friends, and work. Mental health is often pushed to the side.

Mental health is a huge concern among students. This impacts their academic performance, and it has impacted mine directly. I was unable to do well on exams during the first half of the Fall 2020 semester. Every assignment, email, and exam felt overwhelming to the point of wanting to cry. I felt alone, even when surrounded by classmates, family, and friends. The year of 2020 has not been the easiest in general, so adding school on top of that enhanced mental health issues. Striving for perfection hurt my mental health even more this semester, because of how I was already faring in school.

The reason why my academic performance was affected was because I was trying to be the perfect student. I felt like, as a nursing student, I needed to know everything. I had to keep up with my peers, who were continuing to surpass me in grades and seemed to have their lives together. What I realized halfway through the semester was that it was alright to not be perfect. For me, that added burden of perfectionism caused me to be much less than perfect. Therefore, I will make a New Year’s Resolution for 2021 to be imperfect in the academic world. This means I will give myself grace when it comes to completing assignments ahead of time, taking more breaks from studying, and focusing more on living life rather than solely on assignments and exams.

New Year’s resolutions are terrific for setting one up for a good year. My goal of being more on the imperfect side will allow me to me less stressed, focus more on those around me instead of solely schoolwork, and have overall better mental health during the schoolyear. When the constant pressure of perfectionism is eased, it will help me focus, learn the material, and be the best student nurse and eventually nurse, that I can be. I think this would be an excellent goal for many other students as well since mental health is a concern among this population. My mental health during the schoolyear will greatly benefit from this, and I am excited to have made this New Year’s resolution.