And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been

I’ve always liked the idea of making resolutions to start off the new year. It’s a way of turning the page and starting anew. But I don’t think January 1 is the only time of year to make plans and set goals for ourselves. I’m a big fan of starting fresh when you say you’re ready to, whether that’s on January 1 or June 21.

Usually my New Year’s Resolutions are pretty vague and very general and generally unattainable. This year I wanted to be sure to make resolutions I would actually stick to, ones that would actually make me happy and proud of myself. I also made a promise to myself to revisit my resolutions on the first of every month to check in and see how I’m doing with each of them. March 1 is here, and it’s time to sit down and evaluate where I’m at with my resolutions, now two months into 2019.

Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.

I want adventure in the great wide somewhere! I want it more than I can tell.

Yes, this was the title of my last post, and it's a phrase that's been on repeat in my head lately {and not just because I've been listening to the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack on repeat for the last few weeks}. I've really been feeling a sense of wanderlust and craving for adventure lately, and the feeling just won't go away {nor do I want it to!}.

The last few nights, I've laid awake in bed just thinking about all of the things I want to do in my life. I want to travel and explore and experience the world in so many different ways.

Honestly, I think Beauty and the Beast is part of the reason I've been feeling this way. It may sound silly, but that movie just really got me thinking about adventure in the great wide somewhere! I really relate to Belle and her longing for grand experiences. It's not that I'm unhappy or stuck where I am; I've never really felt that way at all. I absolutely love where I am and where I come from, but I really want to experience new and exciting places.

Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.

A new year at school means a new motivation wall! You may remember a post I did in the spring on my wall of quotes in my apartment last year. It's something I decided I wanted to do every year, and I also decided to make every wall different. There are some of the same or similar quotes to ones I've had before, but all of the graphics are different. For today's post, I thought I'd go through all of the quotes on my wall and explain why I chose them.

Perhaps this is the moment for which you have been created.
This is the quote with the floral design in the upper left corner. I had this quote last year, and it's been one of my favorites ever since I came across it. We spend a lot of time, particularly as teenagers and young adults, wondering what our purpose in life is. We spend this time thinking about what we want to study, who we want to be, what we want to do with our lives. We get so caught up in these thoughts that we sometimes forget to notice what's happening right now and how it might affect us and our futures. Every single thing that happens to us happens for a reason, I firmly believe that {hello, serendipity}; and I think this quote speaks to that. We are all meant to do such amazing things, so every moment is important in the course of our lives. Every single moment or action has a specific purpose. Every moment counts!

Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?

I've been spending a lot of time trying to decide what I want this post to be. My love of Harry Potter is so great, and the number of things I could write about related to Harry Potter is so large. But with the recent release of the script of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," I knew I wanted to write something about Harry Potter this week.

I just finished reading the script; in fact, I read it in a matter of a couple of hours on Thursday. I have so many thoughts and feelings about the story. It may sound silly, but it's been so emotional to dive back into a story I thought was finished, a story that was such a big part of my childhood, a story that is a huge part of my life.

Last fall I was lucky enough to be in a class all about "Harry Potter." It was an Honors class and a gen ed, so it was a no brainer that I would take it. {Heck, I would have taken any class about "Harry Potter," even if it was offered in the Engineering department.} It was such a great experience to read the series and discuss in a room full of other "Harry Potter" nerds for an entire semester. And it helped to learn and realize so many things about my favorite series.

"Harry Potter" has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I don’t remember that moment I first picked up the books or even the first time I watched the first movie. All I know is that it’s a part of my life and perhaps even a part of me. I’ve gotten used to answering the question of who my favorite character is. “Obviously it’s Hermione,” is my typical answer. It’s a cliché answer that I’m sure thousands of others share. But as I've grown up and reread the series and taken the class with other Potterheads and immersed myself even more into J.K. Rowling's world, I've realized that my love for the "Harry Potter" series goes beyond my love for Hermione. I've learned so much from these books.

When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.

The wall above my desk in my room at school this year.

Last year, when I was a freshman in college, I was very, very homesick. I spent the first couple of weeks just sad and unmotivated. I missed home and my family and my friends.

Then one day, my aunt sent me a quote: “Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” Theodore Roosevelt said that. I kept reading it over and over again. I kept remembering it in the couple days that followed.

Then it hit me: I should make a quote wall. I should gather quotes that inspire me and motivate me and hang them up in my dorm room.

So I did it. And I felt better. And that Theodore Roosevelt quote was right in the middle. Not only was I inspired every time I looked at them and read them, but they just made the room so much more cheerful. They turned the blank white wall above my desk into something colorful and bright and happy.