Student Blog: Lifting the Weight from Your Shoulders

I have never been a fan of New Year’s resolutions. Maybe it’s a me problem, but I have never been able to stick to them, and in turn, that just makes me feel negative and unaccomplished. So for 2026, I’ve decided to set some attainable goals for myself, as well as just some broader things that I would like to work on this year.

One of my attainable goals for this year is to use up 2-4 lip products. Now, I know what you’re thinking: that seems easy! However, in the last six months, I have somehow acquired an insane amount of lip products, and I’ve honestly forgotten where I bought most of them. I’ve noticed an uptick in this trend on Tik Tok of buying and trying every lip product from a certain brand, such as Summer Fridays or Eadem, and I hate to admit that I have been influenced by these.

I own a variety of lip products, some much more affordable than others, and they take up far more space than I would like them to. This is not to say that there aren’t more lip products on my wishlist that I would like to own. This is just a way for me to curb the purchase bug for a bit and try to make a dent in my collection. I see this also as a way to ignore the pull of consumerism that is being shoved in our faces every day by influencers.

Another attainable goal for 2026 is to read 26 books. In 2025, I read 26 books, and that was huge for me. I haven’t read that much in years, and to accomplish that much was a big deal. I bought a Kindle over the summer, which very much contributed to reading speed and quantity. I will always tell my friends and anyone who will listen that a Kindle is a great investment for anyone who enjoys reading whenever and wherever they can. 

I believe my first read of 2026 will be Alchemised by SenLinYu. It’s her debut fantasy novel, and I’ve heard so many great things about it. It’s also almost 1,000 pages, and I think that starting my year off that way will be very motivating. 

Some more broad goals for myself are mainly to do with writing. I’ve started and stopped writing a romance novel on and off since I graduated high school, and I would really like to get somewhere with it this year. Even creating a detailed outline would satisfy my storytelling craving to an extent. I would also like to write more essays or short-form pieces about things that I care about and post them on my Substack. I haven’t written anything for that in a while, and I’d love to continue.

The thing about goal-setting is that we create this forbidden rule: setting unrealistic standards for yourself that will ultimately end in disappointment. I think that these goals are not only realistic, but productive and positive ways that I can improve upon myself this year.