The Current | Vol. 31 Issue 16

January 5, 2021 | nsucurrent.nova.edu 11 Opinions The truth is, a lot of us can be shallow, easily speaking without thinking and judging others for their beliefs, preferences, and basically, everything else. Some of us are shallow sometimes -- we’re human, it’s bound to happen -- but some of us seem to find venturing out into the deep a little terrifying or unnecessary, or perhaps, we just aren’t aware of that depth. Regardless of whether you left home for college or commute, the experiences you have here and the knowledge you gain help shape you into the person you are. Every time you go through something, good or bad, there’s something you can take from it. Last year, we experienced a shift on a global scale. Froma pandemic that changed the way we live our lives to the U.S. presidential election, riots and everything in between, we got to see people’s true nature and colors. With that, we got to see how different we all are and can be from one another. While we may have different tastes, values and perspectives, there is one thing we all have in common: we are all experiencing our own lives and our own stories. We may go through similar experiences, but no one can look at the world through our individual pair of eyes and with the same exact perspective. With that, it is vital for us to learn to be more accepting of one another, flaws and all. No one should be ‘converting’ anyone to anything, whether that be relating to politics, religion, sexual orientation or anything else. Even if we don’t see eye to eye and agree on things, we should, at the very least, be able to agree to disagree with one another. No one should have the power to dictate your life. You should be the sole leader of yourself and your soul. Life is what you make it and I refuse to spend it trying to fit in or follow a crowd. I refuse to stay in the shallow waters when a world of opportunities and experiences awaits me in the deep. As far as we know, we are only able to experience our lives once. Why waste it trying to change yourself or someone else?What real good does that do to you and your soul? We should all be focusing on ourselves, following our passions and swimming into deeper waters in the hope of finding ourselves and becoming the truest and best versions of ourselves that we can be -- not just for us, but for others, too. If you could change one life today by accepting someone for who they are and encouraging them to become the best they can be, would you do it? I know I would. As we enter the new year, I encourage you to enter the year with love and acceptance in your heart. Be understanding of those with different perspectives from you -- everyone has something they can teach you. Go ahead. Go deep. Swim into deeper waters: Be kind and widen your perspective By: Flor Ana Mireles Copy Editor New Year’s resolutions With 2020 over with, we need to face 2021 with strength and positivity. Creating resolutions and goals for the new year may bring us this energy. I usually tend to avoid New Year’s resolutions, but I believe this is something we may need now. This past year brought us fear and hardships as we have never seen and we have to pull ourselves out of this slump into a new year of possibilities. Coming up with personal goals that we wish to achieve may help us. However, we need to make sure these goals can be accomplished and are not toxic. By: Veronica Richard Contributing Writer Creating unreachable or damaging goals may give us the opposite of what we wish to feel and negatively affect our year. Instead, reflect back upon the year you had and see what you wish to change. Start out small, such as “I want to study more this school year,” and continuously build on your goals until you have accomplished them and so much more. When 2021 comes to an end, youwill be able to look back on all the goals you have achieved and begin planning for 2022. With the mindset of growing from creating goals, you can be unstoppable. By: Jaden Wilson Contributing Writer I used to be a huge advocate for making New Year’s resolutions because I trulybelieved that the beginning of a new year signified the time for self- growth and change in a person. On Jan. 1, I would feel so motivated and excited to get to work on whatever goal I had set for myself, only to lose that motivation once February hit. I believed that the new year was a great time to begin working on goals since a new year meant a clean slate. However, all of the efforts that I put into my New Year’s resolutions soon turned into failure and reverting to old habits. According to Forbes, 90% of New Year’s resolutions fail and I know exactly why. Setting a New Year’s resolution is tricky because you’re giving yourself a time frame to start a goal. Time frames are dangerouswhen instituting goals because you feel more pressured when working towards the goal and being pressured usually ends up in the loss of willpower to reach a goal. Another thing is that New Year’s resolutions are based on procrastination. When you implement the idea of starting your goal on Jan. 1, that basically implies that you will only begin to make changes once that date arrives rather than starting to make the changes right now. We treat the new year as if it marks a date that guarantees that we’ll meet whatever goal we set for ourselves and that is simply not accurate. Why procrastinate your goals andwait until Jan. 1when you can start to make changes right now? Honestly, the point is if you’re serious about a goal, don’t wait until New Year’s day to come around. Start it right now. Make your goals realistic and start coming up with a game plan to attack the goal.Anyone can achieve any goal they set for themselves as long as there’s a strategy behind it. Make it more specific to where you will have mini-goals that will result in your larger one. Why we need them in 2021 Why I’m against New Year’s resolutions PHOTO PRINTED PERMISSION BY F. MIRELES Copy editor Flor Mireles in Port Angeles, WA.