As the new year rolls in, we often find ourselves setting goals to be our “best selves.” For many people, that means going to the gym, eating healthier, picking up a new hobby or spending more time with their loved ones. We all tend to have big hopes for the new year. My New Year’s resolution was to cancel my DoorDash membership and stop ordering delivery. Most of us, myself included, are notorious for not fulfilling our goals, though some manage to stick it out and make positive changes in their lives.

However, this year, I reflected on the idea of New Year’s resolutions, and it has made me wonder why we wait for the new year to make a change in our lives? What is stopping us from living in the now and consistently making goals to “improve” ourselves as we see fit? We don’t have forever, so why do we continue to feed into the new year’s tradition of beginning our new journey on Jan. 1 of the next year? Has this tradition convinced us that each passing year gives us a fresh start to be a better version of ourselves?

We need to start being the best version of ourselves every day. Truthfully, it is not hard to make small, constructive changes to our lives. So, why do we wait until the new year?

We do not need to wait for the new year to allow ourselves self-love and care. We do not need to wait for the new year to reach out to the people we love. Most importantly, we do not need to wait for Jan. 1 to treat each other and the world with compassion and respect.

It is possible for us to become people every single day, but we often choose to wait until the new year to make artificial, surface-level goals for ourselves that in reality, most will not maintain nor fulfill.

Personally, New Year’s resolutions leave me questioning: why do we not make new goals for ourselves every day that give us instant gratification? Is it because we try to give ourselves something to look forward to each year? Why do we not make goals to help improve the overall quality of life for everyone around us? Does the current tradition give us the short-term fulfillment we need for the couple of months that we stick to our goals before we revert to our “normal” selves and “normal” habits?

It is not hard to become a better version of ourselves, even if the changes we make are small. However, this tradition of waiting until the new year to make that change has, in a sense, given us an excuse to prolong our behaviors. If we were to devote our resolutions to improving the lives of those around us, and improve the state of our world, together we could see positive change.

I challenge anyone reading this, and myself, to devote ourselves to real, positive change this year and not focus on some stereotypical, potentially unfulfilling goals. We need to be the change that we wish to see. So, what is stopping us? We don’t have time to wait until the new year. We need to be our best selves today.