With the New Year quickly approaching, we begin reflecting on the year gone by, pondering what our changes for the New Year may be in preparation for the obligatory question we all get asked every year - what are your New Year’s resolutions? 

Each year we make promises to ourselves to either lose weight, eat healthier or work out more, often looking to improve our outward appearance due to the societal pressure to feel guilty for gaining weight over the holidays. Your worth should not be determined by a number on a scale, but rather your actions, how you choose to treat those around you. By focussing on what's supposedly wrong with you, you miss out on all that is right about you. We go into the New Year with unattainable goals which is why we usually never follow through with our resolutions, with most people giving up a few weeks into the year. 

I was one of those people who would make up resolutions each year because I felt like I had to, that's what you did at the end of the year, which is why I decided a long time ago to not set resolutions, and I am happier for it because I didn’t have that extra pressure to follow through with the random decisions I made just to appease those around me. Instead, I choose to reflect on the year gone by and look at my accomplishments and what I have learned throughout the year rather than feeling ashamed of where I am in my life. 

Resolutions set you up for failure because in order to identify your areas for improvement you have to first figure out what you don’t like about yourself which is self-deprecating and can lead to other long term issues. 

Why start the year on a lull? Celebrate you and everything you have accomplished! 2021 was hard enough, let's not go into 2022 focussing on our supposed flaws.

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Mary Raftopoulos started This is Impt during lockdown as a way to help highlight the racism we face everyday in the UK. She wanted to continue the conversation that the Black Lives Matter movement started and the discussion about racism in the UK. Speaking up and being vulnerable is something she has always shied away from on social media but she hopes these conversations help people understand the Black British experience. Mary is also an Editor at The C Word Magazine.