It’s finally here: 2021. After the shit-show that was 2020, I’m eager to see what the new year will bring. Realistically, things won’t change overnight, but the dawn of a new year brings hope—and hope is something a lot of us are looking for right now.

While I enjoy the clean slate approach of the new year, it can also bring on pressure to create resolutions and change yourself. Advertisements about self-improvement including: diets, gym memberships, yoga, etc. attack from all sides. Reading social media posts of everyone else’s resolutions and big goals for the year can also increase the pressure to change. This time of year can be a lot to deal with.

This isn’t to say that making resolutions is a bad thing. If you have goals you are looking forward to accomplishing, I say go for it. If you want to join a gym or watch what you eat, that’s fine. But what hurts more than it helps is doing things because society tells you to. It might be a good time for you to take a step back and figure out if you’re doing things for yourself, or because you feel you have to.

In years past, I fell into the trap of fad diets and making year-long to-do lists filled with unattainable goals, and then got angry at myself for not sticking with either. It’s become a vicious cycle that has to end if I want to be truly happy with myself. This year, I’m finally doing what I should have done years ago.

For 2021, I’m going to try to tune out all of the external noise and focus on what I truly want for myself. Instead of what society tells me I should do, I’m going to take a deep look into myself to find out what happiness means to me. Instead of focusing on the things I want to change about myself, I’m going to focus on how to change the way I look at myself.

And while I always look at myself as a work in progress, my one goal for this year is simple: to love and accept myself for who I am. I’ll make changes when I want to, but for the time being, I’m going to take this time to just be me.