All New My Ray of Hope

Until last year, I used think new year resolutions were only a bunch of points that were supposed to be jotted down for motivation, and at the end of the day (the first month, rather), chucked into the trashcan. But last year, I did something that changed my perception for good.

Just like in the beginning of every other year, I started 2014 by penning down a slightly long and ambitious list of resolutions. I would have to accomplish each and everyone of those by 31st December, 2014. "Ha!", I thought to myself, "That's never happening!". "I'll be lucky to achieve even one of those eight resolutions on that over-ambitious list."

My resolutions ranged from "Get eight hours of sleep a day" (easy) to "Go on a sponsored trip abroad" (crazy!). I would have given up on my dreams by February if not for a traumatic experience in the beginning of the year. I was so broken during that phase, that it took me tremendous effort to regain my old state of calm and happiness. It was then that a close friend said to me, "Your confidence and strength lie in you! Don't look toward others to pump yourself up."

His words worked like magic on me. I stopped thinking about the past and focused only on how I could achieve my future... my dreams. I started following my first resolution - getting eight hours of sleep. Irrespective of the time I slept at night, I would clock eight hours. I put in new energy into my travel articles. I got quite a few published, and some won me awards! I had succeeded in winning return flights to an US city and I even won the stay for free, albeit through separate contests. I had ticked off almost all of the milestones from my list of resolutions.

However, I still hadn't earned a foreign trip by October. While I continued multitasking and bettering my writing, I was surprised to hear that I won return tickets to Moscow! And the news came on my birthday. I was so happy, I had tears in my eyes! I knew I had kept all of my resolutions for 2014. The confidence and the strength were mine. My friend's words had been my ray of hope. I had achieved every little dream of mine by persevering with my hard work. I took time after work to hone my writing skills. I saved up money and leaves for interesting trips across New York. In the end, it was all worth it. I had gifted myself a lot of positive reinforcement to become the strong individual I wanted to be.

Today, as I pack my bags for Russia, I look back at last year with pride at my perseverance. I made another list of resolutions for 2015. And I hope to tell you another story next year.