New Year, New Me Right? by Raven

New Year, New Me Right? by Raven - January 2016 Scholarship Essay

“Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed.” -Cavett Robert. Every year there are people with good intentions to start fresh when the new year roles around; whether they plan to finally stop procrastinating once and for all or, trying one of the thousands of diet fads they have read about in the last years magazine. Even though these goals are very important, somehow after a few weeks or even a few days have passed we are back to our “old ways”. We easily lose focus of our goals that we set for ourselves because we set them in the heat of the moment expecting to change overnight. Everyone around you is yelling “New year, new me!” and we get caught up without really wanting to accomplish anything. Including myself. So, this year, my resolution is to not strive for perfection but to strive for determination and to know that change happens over time.
The simple definition of determination, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is a quality that makes you continue trying to do or achieve something that is difficult. This year, I want to approach every situation in my life with determination. When I first began my college career, I would always start out the semester confident and strong however, at the first sight of anything that I thought would be hard and intimidating I would lose confidence in myself. This would lead to a lot of second guessing and ultimately I would not get the grade I wanted. Now that I see why this is a problem I can begin working on the solution. Instead of reaching for just the bare minimum, I want to reach for my full potential as a college student. Determination is the key to success when it comes to facing obstacles in your life, whether it is a financial difficulty or just trying to understand molecular physics. I refuse to allow intimidation to enter and hinder my ability to believe in myself any longer.
Now that I have declared my New Years Resolution, I am going to need a plan of action to kick my resolution into high gear. I will need to be positive about any given situation if I want to stand a chance of improving it. This will help academically as well. Adopting a “can do” attitude can make all the difference.