We're getting to that time of year again where everyone dutifully is coming up with New Year's resolutions for 2016 and dreaming of that sunshine-y better life where 50 percent of your salary doesn't immediately go into a register at Chipotle. I personally don't subscribe to the idea of hard-and-fast resolutions, which is exactly why making a New Year's resolution based on your Hogwarts House seems like the best compromise. Why waste your time making resolutions about your budget or your diet or your selfie-taking habits when you could make actually meaningful resolutions based on your life priorities and personality?
If we're being honest, all the other resolutions we make last about as long as Dumbledore before he peaces out of your Chocolate Frog card. But these resolutions aren't geared toward changing anything about you or the habits that define you, but rather about changing your attitude toward them. I'd like to think that I have done the Sorting Hat at least a little bit proud with this list, which hopefully will help Muggles, No-Majs (don't even look at me, I don't know what the plural is, NOBODY KNOWS), and magic folk alike. Here is your resolution based on your Hogwarts House:
Slytherin
Run your own race. If you scroll down your Facebook feed right now, I guarantee you that in less than a minute, you will see a friend who just got their dream job, another friend who just got engaged, and another friend who just moved into a brand spanking new apartment well beyond your means. You're seeing other people's highlight reels, and it's making you anxious, because you haven't achieved all of those things yet — hell, maybe you haven't achieved any of them. I know it's going against your nature to take a breath and accept that, so long as you work hard, the universe will let these things happen for you when they're meant to happen — but try. Take that breath in 2016, and stop using everyone else's Instagram feed as a measuring stick for your own life. You've got a plan. You've got the drive. The rest will follow.
Ravenclaw
Get out of your comfort zone. Go places you've never seen before, walk down a street without any destination in mind, try a restaurant you haven't read about on Yelp. We're so privileged to have all the information that we have at our fingertips in this day and age, and you are probably by default the friend who does all the planning, all the arranging, all the making sure that everyone is where they need to be and knows what to expect. Yes, we need you in order to function, but that shouldn't be your 24/7 responsibility — so take some time for yourself to get off the grid, and have your own mini adventures when you can.
Hufflepuff
Speak up. It's not that you're not confident in your ideas — you've gotten past the point of prefacing things with apologies, or sneaking your ideas in between other people's, or worrying that people will dismiss them as dumb. But it's not enough. You can't just have your ideas and own them in the privacy of your own head. You have to be willing to push them out into the universe unflinchingly, so you can see them put into action the way you want them to be, not the way somebody else interprets them. Be loud and be proud!
Gryffindor
Make more time for yourself. It's easy to get swept up in the insanity of work opportunities, Facebook invites, and making sure you catch up with all of your friends at least every few weeks, but it gets exhausting after awhile. You gotta take the word "FOMO" permanently out of your vocabulary, and teach yourself not to succumb to the guilt-tripping when you miss a party or cancel plans when you're not feeling up to snuff. You may pride yourself on being able to operate on no sleep and multi-tasking the crap out of everything, but this is the year you should evaluate whether that's really worth it — and how to work in some much necessary alone time into your routine.
Images: Warner Bros; Giphy
