Long Road to Walk

Happy New Year 2017!

I greet the beginning of this year with the view that it will be a prosperous year, filled with many challenges, but at the same time a lot of potential to be full of success and achievement. It is always a blessing to see a new year and it greets us with the feeling of new beginnings after the festive season. For many students, it marks a return to university after the break with their families, and for students like me who chose to remain in the UK over the holidays, it may not feel like a huge change, but there is a long road to walk this year for all of us.

Every year, at the very beginning I set my goals and what I wish to achieve by the next New Year’s Eve and in my experience this helps monitor the progress one makes in the course of the year. The simpler the goals the easier it is to monitor how close you came to achieving them.

At the beginning of 2016 I set out to do two major things: learn a language and start a serious exercise regimen for peak health and fitness. In the course of the year, I enlisted in Alliance Francaise de Manchester and attended classes every Thursday night during my semesters and it was an amazing experience meeting people with the same interest in learning the French language. Of course we are all still far from fluent even now as I write this a year later, but it served as a great experience of engaging with a different culture from where I am from (Kenya). I plan to carry on with this in 2017 as well.

Secondly, I joined a popular fitness centre in the city, full of enthusiasm for my new fitness journey. I can honestly say that keeping up with the routine was one of the most difficult experiences of my year. At first, it was difficult to even get out of bed the morning after the work out and I would only go a few days of the week; and by few I mean 2. However, three months in and I could go as many times as 5 times a week, where I would attend fitness classes and swim daily. Unfortunately, consistency was my greatest downfall when it came to working out. The months of April and May were amazing and I was full of energy; however in May and June preparation for exams put me off going as much as I would like and I fell off. After that it was less of a routine and more like few times far and in between until the summer came around and in July I managed to get back to it, just not as seriously as before. Looking back, I could have done better, but I still remain positive about it and aim to do even better this year.

My goals for this year are relatively simple: I wish to graduate Law school with a first class degree, and improve my photography. I understand that there is no magic that occurs in the new year that enables us to do everything we have ever dreamed, so my advice is this: a dream is only a dream until you can work for it, so to avoid being disappointed set goals that are high enough to attain with the right amount of effort and resolve.

University life presents many opportunities to learn new things and step outside your comfort zone. I implore you to step outside your comfort zone and challenge yourself to do more this year and meet every challenge with your best foot forward, such that when reviewing your year during the next New Year’s Eve, you can confidently say that there was a long road to walk and that you put your feet to the ground and met each challenge with resolve.