Column: A Happy Medium, by Erin Murtaugh

Do you smell what I smell?

It’s the smell of a new year, the smell of new beginnings.

A new year calls for resolutions for most people. I’ve learned they don’t really work for me.

One year, my resolution was to quit biting my nails. Unless you are a fellow nail biter, do not say it is easy to just stop doing it. It is not. Biting nails is a subconscious behavior. You don’t even realize you’re doing it sometimes.

I was able to quit for probably six months or so, and then one day, I didn’t even think about it. So that didn’t work.

Another year, I told myself I was going to start working out more. I think this could be one of the most common resolutions out there. I got a membership to the YMCA. For a while, I would go once a week and work out. It was going good, but for some reason, it just quit happening.

Rather than forcing myself to do something that won’t stick with me, I decided that this year I will make a list of resolutions to do this year that are attainable.

Here they are:

1. Travel

2. Keep travelling

3. Travel some more

4. Get my room organized

5. Create a workspace for myself

6. Prepare myself for college

7. Embrace the time I have left in high school

8. Graduate

9. Enjoy the little things

10. Be myself and don’t let anyone get in the way of that.

Happy New Year!

 

Albert Lea resident Erin Murtaugh is a senior at Albert Lea High School.