Written by Chevon Gilzene
So it’s a new year, and it’s time for those all-too-familiar New Year’s resolutions… or not! Here are 5 New Year’s resolutions that every Arts student should make and actually follow.
1. Be more creative
I know it’s kind of vague, but it’s so important to remember that we are technically in school to study our creativity in such a way that we can make a career out of it. Many times, students (myself included) forget to make precious time for creating outside of the classroom. This can be difficult if not made a priority – especially among all the assignments and exams – but it is equally (if not more) important for your future.
2. Feel more
This usually comes easy to us “creative types,” but we still need to make sure that we look inward every once in a while to check that we don’t become numb to life. Much of our inspiration comes from our feelings, so if we are to be more creative this year, we must also be open to feeling more.
3. Don’t fear ugly
Let’s face it: most of us are perfectionists when it comes to our craft. There is nothing necessarily wrong with aiming for perfection as long as we also leave ourselves open to mistakes. Sometime the most beautiful masterpieces come from ugly mistakes.
4. Embrace Imperfection
This is a tag on from number 3. Nothing will ever be perfect! There will always be someone out there who doesn’t like our work. Instead of beating ourselves up for not meeting our expectations, we need to start embracing our mistakes in order to learn from them. When we learn to find the beauty in imperfection, we will no longer be haunted by the fear of failure, which brings me to number 5…
5. Fear fear
We all know the saying “the only thing to fear is fear itself,” but how often do we think of fear as something that we should be afraid of? When we decide that the only thing we will fear in life is fear itself, we break the bondage that it had us in.
So I challenge you to wake up every morning and ask yourself, “what would I do in 2017 if I knew I couldn’t fail?” and then do it!