Realistic Hawkeye resolutions we should actually keep
Maybe cut back on the Pancheros
Whatever dreams you had of going to the rec every morning, only buying Starbucks once a week, and limiting your Pancheros/Buffalo Wild Wings/Fermosa budget have probably gone out the window by now. But just because Syllabus week took a toll on your bank account, diet and probably your immune system, doesn’t mean it has to be the end of your New Year’s Resolutions. Here are some goals that Hawkeyes can actually manage as the semester begins.
Block Jimmy John’s number
You’re relationship is getting unhealthy. Extra mayo and bologna? No lettuce? Picking up the phone at the end of a long night because you don’t know who else to go to? You’re better than that.
Meanwhile, stop talking to that guy/girl you’ve been hung up on
Because there are a lot of fish in the sea (over 23,000 undergrads to be exact) and there’s no need to be someone else’s catch and release. Pick yourself up, put on a smile (and that super cute sweater your sister got you over the holidays), grab your squad and go find someone new.
Get some sleep
Even if you can’t make it to the gym every day, only eat salads and feel like a Greek God the second you wake up – you can still feel a lot better if you just treat yourself to some good shut eye. If it means starting your homework an hour earlier or watching one episode less, so be it. You don’t want to be that guy in MacBride Auditorium the whole 200 person lecture can hear snoring, or that girl in the library making a bed out of the comfy chairs. We all love sleep, so really this should be the easiest resolution you’ve ever made.
Go to class
Start small. Before you decide you’re getting that 4.0, how about you just set five alarms and pick out an outfit the night before your 8am. If you can ace that 10% of your grade that the syllabus told you is completely attendance based, you’re off to a good start. Getting sleep and going to class are resolutions that perfectly compliment each other, just not at the same time.
Stop opening a bar tab
The cool thing (and the worst thing) about cash is that once it’s gone, it’s gone. So leave your card at home because you know there’s a $10 minimum, that you’ll probably spend even more and you only have $20 to your name.
Stop thinking this one time you’ll get away with not paying the meter
Yes, quarters are a college commodity and yes, that money would be better spent on food – but no, you won’t get away with it. “Just one time” is always the time someone decides to check the meters and gets the joy of writing you a $15 or $25 dollar ticket. There’s nothing more awful than seeing that evil little blue and white slip on your windshield and knowing you could have just thrown a few dollars in the meter, but instead have to sacrifice months worth of laundry money (or, you know, one nights worth of going out money).
Take Tuesday’s dollar U-Calls out of your weekly plans
Because cheap, watered down drinks that you have to wait 10 minutes to order should come after school, health and relationships. When the stars line up and you actually have the time and ability to go, then by all means, do it. But no more “I would study for Wednesday’s quiz, but it’s dollar drinks Tuesday at Summit.”
Resist the dining hall/sorority deserts
Or at least getting seconds.
Although in all reality this is your last chance to take advantage of somebody else cooking for you, so maybe just a little bit more froyo from Hillcrest? One cookie from Burge? Smuggle some out for your older friends.
All in all, Hawkeyes could use a little less drinking, a little more sleep and we could always spend a little less money. But if there’s one thing this generation should really resolve to do, how about this:
Stop comparing yourself to other people
That guy who works at Iowa Book may be ripped, that girl in your sorority may have beautiful hair down to her hips, your friend taking Biochemistry may get better grades than you, and you may sometimes feel like just another face in the crowd- but to somebody you’re the girl in Rhetoric with great style or the guy rocking the aux chord. Keep doing all the stuff that you love, know that the year may change but you don’t have to, and expect to become the best version of yourself in 2017. Do all of that, and you’ll be making resolutions that will last longer than the New Year and be a lot more meaningful than losing ten pounds.
That doesn’t sound so hard right? Syllabus week is over, Iowa, now get to it.