As the days are passing and the week is crawling forward, there is an undeniable fact hanging in the air: we are just some working days away from falling into a two-week-holiday-coma. And that means one thing and one thing only: there will be stress. The final exams and deadlines at university, the final Christmas presents, the final days of the year. The to-do-list is long before we can finally drown in Christmas cookies and presents. And the next personal goals for 2018 are already standing.

As we reflect on the 365 days that just passed in front of our eyes, we remember the achievements we made and the ones we didn’t. And, by that, we realise that one year passed and we still aren’t as good as we would like to be. And even though blasting some fireworks at the first of January doesn’t really mean anything for your personal development, people have a tendency to ascribe great meaning to the changing years. We get nostalgic and cannot drown in Christmas cookies without thinking about the gym-memberships we are going to use to fight off those cookie-kilos.

I already know that on the 1st of January, I will wake up as the exact same person I was the day before. And yet, I won’t. I am obviously not the same person as I was 24 hours ago. Although the change might not be visible from one day to the next. I would like to become a better version of myself within the course of the next year, just as many other people would like to as well. But being a better person is not something you decide upon at the beginning of the year. It is something you become by making the uncomfortable, but right decisions during it.

2017 was full of those uncomfortable, but right decisions and it would be hypocritical to say I always handled them in the best way possible. I could use a lot of personal improvement for 2018, but this is something I would like to find the strength to work on as I go along. Nobody will ever achieve perfection, but I wish everyone from the bottom of my heart the lyrics of one of my favourite cheesy disco song Live It Up. You might cry your heart out even though your smile could light up a whole city and that’s okay, because becoming strong, healthy and awesome is not a New Year’s resolution, it is a process.

Every two weeks, Antonia will add the songs she writes about to the Spotify playlist below. This way, she creates a soundtrack to her time in Nijmegen. Click left and right for more songs.

Read Antonia Leise's blogs here