This is the first in a two-part series in which members of The Hatchet’s opinions section – editors, columnists and writers, representing a range of majors and class years – share what they hope to accomplish in the new year.
If you have yet to make your own resolution for 2016, hopefully our opinions writers’ goals can inspire you.
Sarah Blugis, a senior majoring in political communication, is The Hatchet’s opinions editor.
This will be my last semester as an undergraduate student at GW, and I want to make sure I don’t waste it. So, my 2016 resolution is to have more fun. Of course, I’ll still go to class and apply for jobs and keep up with my responsibilites. But I want to make sure I leave GW with no regrets.
Come May, I’m going to have to say goodbye to some of the people I’ve grown closest to during my time here. While I don’t think it’s possible to ever be ready for that, I can make sure I spend as much time with them as possible – and I’d rather have fun doing that than waste my time worrying about anything else.
Dan Grover, a senior majoring in English, is a Hatchet columnist.
Drink less diet Coke, eat more vegetables and spend less time sweating the small stuff. Sure, I’m graduating, have to write a thesis and do a hundred other things, but it’s in my best interest to stress less.
Varun Joshi, a senior double-majoring in economics and math, is a Hatchet opinions writer.
The failure rate of New Years’ resolutions is high enough to make them a shared cultural joke – one that we all laugh and play along with without taking too seriously. But is our resolve truly that weak? Resolutions of mine that have failed in the past have been unspecific, highly idealistic, and on too wide of a scale (i.e. I will be more positive this year or I will exercise more this year).
My New Year’s resolution is therefore not to have a New Year’s resolution. Instead of imagining a grand plan for 2016, I will instead set smaller-scale weekly goals for myself and tackle problems that are relevant and important to me as they come. It will be these small steps, rather than a singular grandiose step, that will truly improve my year.
Margot Besnard, a junior majoring in political science, is a Hatchet opinions writer.
In recent years I got in the habit of only reading news on my phone. This year I’ll be studying abroad in Vietnam, and I hope to rebuild my attention span and explore different topics by spending more time reading books on my new Kindle (thanks Santa).
Kendrick Baker, a sophomore majoring in political science, is a Hatchet opinions writer.
Over the past year, I’ve grown tired of constantly feeling that I am lacking time. To combat this feeling, I’ve thought about where I could find time within my life. After careful deliberation, I’ve realized that I had been using binge watching on Netflix and Youtube as a coping mechanism for the stress that I felt in college. For my New Year’s resolution, I have decided to be conscious of exactly how much time I’m wasting during each and every day, and at least attempt to reduce the amount of time I spend online each day.
Shwetha Srinivasan, a sophomore double-majoring in international affairs and economics, is a Hatchet opinions writer.
I’ve never made New Year resolutions, since I didn’t think I’d ever stick by them. But I’m changing this year. For 2016, I want to come up with my very first New Year resolution, one that I hope I’ll try my best to achieve.
Once a sleep enthusiast, I’ve given in to those college expectations by pulling in late nights and prioritizing Netflix over sleep. In 2016, I’m going to sleep well and this means not only getting at least an eight-hour sleep but also getting this sleep at a reasonable time. This seems like an achievable resolution for the coming year. I should be able to stop myself from watching just one more episode, right? I want to prioritize my health and wellbeing – not only so can I avoid looking like the walking dead on most days but so that I can also study well and have fun.
Randa Zammam, a sophomore majoring in international affairs, is a Hatchet opinions writer.
Sometimes people ask me how to pronounce my name and I jokingly tell them that it rhymes with “procrastinate.” This New Years’ resolution is the same as it has been for the past couple of years now, which is to stop leaving all my work off until the last minute. It got to a point so bad that in high school that my senior yearbook superlative was “Biggest Procrastinator,” which is still not something I’m proud of – even though it’s admittedly pretty funny.
I’m not saying that I haven’t been trying to constantly improve throughout my time here at college, but my goal for this semester is to evenly space my work throughout the week so that I’m not starting a ten page paper the night before it’s due.
Sky Singer, a sophomore majoring in political science, is a Hatchet opinions writer.
My New Year’s resolution is to take advantage of learning opportunities outside of the classroom. As a freshman, I was excited to get out and see the city. But this past semester, I have been so focused on class work that I haven’t allowed myself to explore D.C. and take advantage of all it has to offer. My enthusiasm for living in D.C. was overshadowed by the pressures I felt becoming a sophomore but as I look to the new year, I want to reprioritize my sense of curiosity and adventure.
Hillel Zand, a freshman majoring in international affairs, is a Hatchet opinions writer.
My New Year’s resolution is to find a better balance between doing schoolwork and enjoying my free time. Sometimes it’s easy to get so caught up in the work and we forget to take the time to do things that make us smile, laugh and feel fulfilled.
I want to spend more time making music and writing, as well as pursuing new hobbies and skills. The work-play balance is something with which we have all struggled, but I’ve never really made a dedicated effort to find that balance. Here’s to an exciting new year!
Laura Castro Lindarte, a freshman double-majoring in journalism and political science, is a Hatchet opinions writer.
This year I want to get more involved at GW. I commute from Sterling, Va., which takes about an hour and a half every day and has kept me away from campus. Still, I’m going to try my best to get involved.
I also want to exercise more – though, let’s be honest, that’s something almost everyone says every year forgets after a week. But hey, why not add it to the list anyway with the hope that this year may be the exception.
Stefan Sultan, a freshman majoring in international affairs, is a Hatchet opinions writer.
While at a recent spin class, I began to think about what my New Year’s resolution should be. Partly inspired by the all diva playlist for that day’s class, I had an idea: to be even gayer in 2016.
Now, 2015 was a very gay year for me. Aside from it being the year that marriage equality was finally extended to all 50 states, 2015 was the year I ran down the street draped in a rainbow flag during Pride, saw drag queens perform and went to a Madonna concert. The question now is how I can top all of that (and much more) in 2016.
Ideally, I could accomplish this by meeting Beyoncé, but I’ve had to accept the fact that I probably won’t. Therefore, I have decided to focus on simple things, like voting for a presidential candidate who wants to advance LGBT rights and pledging to go to brunch more often. That way, I can make 2016 as gay as possible.
