Alas, the year 2024 has arrived! Each person has their perspective experience on how 2023 went for them. Regardless, people are ready for this new year in 2024 and what it has to offer as they take a more intentional approach to reaching their goals. As the Spring 2024 semester begins, many SNU students have already set out a plan for the new academic year.
Raven McIntosh, a sophomore pre-law major, states, “My main goal for the spring semester is to be ahead in most of my classes so that I won’t fall behind and can get more involved on campus!” Often, the deeper we get into the semester the quicker the workload increases and seems to compound itself, making it overwhelming. I can attest to this happening to me in the fall semester. Thus, getting ahead and planning for the semester will be extremely important to avoiding this pressure and possible burnout.
Jayla Johnson, a junior business major, and D’Angelo Cartwright, a senior psychology major, agree on how they want to maintain their grades this spring semester. Many upperclassmen, especially those planning on attending graduate school, can relate to this goal as graduation and application season approaches.
Besides these academic goals, many students have desired goals for their personal life as well. McIntosh said that her New Year’s resolution is to “manage my time better and practice patience.” There was a consensus among Johnson, Cartwright, and McIntosh to focus on getting closer to God. McIntosh goes on to say, “I know if I’m living my life for Him, He will supply my needs. I don’t know where I would be without Him, so I want to involve God in everything I do this year.”
My keywords for this year are discipline, consistency, and intentionality. The way to build healthy habits is to decide what changes you want to make and discipline yourself to do it and do it repeatedly. As I talk with my friends, the pattern I see is that we start strong, but as the workload increases and life happens, we tend to wander off the path we set for ourselves. However, that is expected to happen; we all fall short in one way or another and some days just aren’t our best days. That is where intentionality comes into play! Typically, we set goals for ourselves, give it a go, and when we fail that’s the end of it. However, let’s not make that the case this year. Purposely pursue your goals and keep going at them until they become a reality. Additionally, practice humility and patience with yourself as you strive toward these goals and occasionally stumble.
Speaking on the new year, Cartwright remarks, “What I’m looking forward to is what God has in store for me this year.” Likewise, I can’t wait to see all that He has in store for the SNU body and the success you all will achieve this year!
Photo by Fab Lentz on Unsplash