Out With the Old, In With the New

Last year, I made 16 goals for 2016. Even though this was ambitious, I achieved aspects of every goal. I have grown more in the past year than in any other year of my life. My overarching goal for 2016 was to embrace spontaneity, and although I have realized I will never be an inherently spontaneous person, I am far more open to living without a definite plan, and even a few ounces of spontaneity have made me reevaluate how I am going about my life.

This is particularly prevalent in college. As much as I must adhere to the structure of a degree program, I also have to remain open to the possibility for change. Balancing these two opposites pulls on me like a tug-of-war; on the one hand, I want to take classes in unrelated subjects, while on the other hand, I have a double major to work toward completing.

All my life, I have been passionate about being passionate, about doing things that matter. I recently reached a point where I am passionate about what I do, but it is hard for me to connect what I love with a greater purpose in the world. I found myself sitting at my desk, blogging about being grateful for things that so many people lack. Thus, I began to reevaluate a lot of my life. With the help of a professor, a high school teacher, and the friend who inspired this blog, I am developing an idea for my life that extends beyond my degree and my current habits. Although gratitude was a good place to start, it is no longer enough - I have to move on to action.

I am in the process of unveiling a new side to myself. In high school, I just wanted to dance and write, and that was all. Now, I still want to dance, write, read, and travel, but I crave a higher purpose. I want to change the world through the movement of dance and the power of the written word. In part, this is due to the primary influence of high school teachers and mentors, but my first semester at Loyola Marymount University and the emphasis of Ignatian spirituality inspired me to seek a lifestyle in which I am a woman with and for others.

For 2017, I have a single New Year's Resolution: I want to focus on volunteering, dancing, writing, and studying in a way that moves my passions to better the world.

This leads me to the fate of this blog. I considered ending my blog here, with this post, but that would make me sad. Pursuing my new goals does not require me to give up everything I previously loved. So, I also have a New Year's Resolution for my blog: I want to write about social justice and its intrinsic connection to art, specifically through the expressions of dance and literature. When celebrities and political figures are glorified across every news source, not enough media and publications pay attention to the poor, the mentally ill, the sick, and the hungry.

In the midst of this blog change, and mindset change, I found this quote by Carrie Fisher that perfectly captures my ideas about the intertwining relationship between life and art.

I don't want my life to imitate art. I want my life to be art.

Carrie Fisher (1956-2016)