New Year's Resolutions for College Students

New Year's Resolutions for college students need to be more than a list of "don'ts" because your resolve to stick by those kinds of behavior changes is likely to be short lived. So don't waste your paper on resolutions that you really don't want to make in the first place. New Year's Resolutions for college students make more sense if they are proactive and call on you to actually do some positive things in the new year. You can still have plenty of time for hanging out with your friends but don't set yourself up to look back in five or ten years and wonder why you didn't do any of these positive things that would have been so easy to try while you were still in college.

Find new ways to use college resources. I was frankly amazed when I went back to my college campus after just 5 years at how many things seemed to be going on that I never tried out while I was in college. My kids say the same thing. There were on campus showings by famous area artists, department presentations by experts in a variety of fields, the university band seemed to have taken it up a notch and was giving an outdoor concert on a Sunday afternoon, and the gym was alive with lots of non varsity activities.

Today's campus life can be full to the brim with all kinds of activities. Clubs often number in the hundreds and no you really can't play an active part in all of them. But if you want to make a positive New Year's Resolution for a college student, try taking a fresh look at the out of class room activities offered on your campus and get yourself to at least one. You may be surprised at what you gain from the activity and the fellow collegians you may meet for the very first time.

Take advantage of where you are. Many college students make their college choice in part because of its location. Cities like Boston, Chicago and Washington D. C. are attractive places to spend four years of your young life for sure. Still choosing a college on the basis of location really only makes sense if you actually take advantage of all that location has to offer . For example if you go to Georgetown in Washington, D. C. and stay out on the hilltop for four years without visiting the National Gallery, the Smithsonian, the National Zoological Park, or your home district U. S. Representative's office, then you may have missed the point and not got the deal you thought you were signing on for.

Not every college has the same things to offer but each college location has its own special something. Resolve to discover some of what makes your college location special in its own right. It will be something you can share with your children in years to come.

Take that course you always wanted to take. Everyone talks about taking that special course in music, journalism, the arts, history even astronomy but so many never follow through on it. Remind yourself that unless you go to graduate school you are unlikely to find yourself with the option to select a college course that is meant to help you not just to pursue a career but is really meant to help you as you pursue your life. Then do the hardest thing of all, follow through. Hint: this is a resolution that is sometimes easier to fulfill if attempted with a like-minded friend. You will find this suggestion for a New Year's Resolution for college students in almost every list you find on the topic, that's because it's just a really good idea.

Do one thing to improve your overall health. College can do a real number on your physical well being. It's a place where sleep is often deprived, exercise is frequently overlooked and eating is borderline disastrous in a variety of ways. Maybe you can't put yourself into Olympic condition by making a New Year's resolution but you can open your own eyes to the need to think a little more about your own physical well-being.

You can work out, eat a good breakfast, walk, relax , get out of doors for more than just the walk to classes. It really just matters that you choose one simple new life style change and you go with it. While you are still in college and have perhaps the most flexible schedule you are likely to have for years, do yourself a favor and resolve to improve your overall health.

Explore Your Faith Life Part of that overall well being may revolve around your spiritual health. Some students see college as a place where it is very easy to simply pass on religion. No one will know and no one will care. Except it all comes around eventually when you discover that you know and surprisingly you also care.

Each person sees religion and the spiritual life through their own lens, but you actually have to take a look through that lens for results. Yes, spirituality is ongoing, but if you look closely you may find that while you have been in college you have put your own spirituality on a loading dock. Maybe a helpful and healthful New Year's resolution for you as a college student is to take advantage of the fact that you are really on your own to do some serious exploration about your own spiritual center. There are likely to be lots of professionals and caring people on campus to help you.

Do at least one service oriented activity. There is nothing that can make you feel more shallow as a person than to look back at your college life and realize that in four years you went to all the games, the parties and the semester break trips but you never once took part in anything for any length of time that you could call service oriented.

College campuses, faith centered or secular, abound in opportunities for you to help the needy in the community around you or further afield. Resolve in 2011 to take part in one activity you can be proud of because it helps others.

College students are people and they are likely to make lots of resolutions that mark them more just as human beings than specifically as college students. Still for four years college students live a very unique and sequestered kind of existence. To live it well sometimes requires making New Year's resolutions meant just for college students.