New Year's Lists

Happy New Year!
    Does the fact that it's actually 2014 seem surreal to anyone else, or is it just me? I keep thinking, "Wow, this means 2004 was ten years ago, and a hundred years ago the world was on the brink of the Great War (the latter according to Downton Abbey, my most trusted source of historical facts next to my brother Ben, and Wikipedia)."
    As 2013 brings itself to its hectic, too-fast close, and we open to the fresh, blank page of the New Year, I have been thinking over the past 365 or so days, and how I have changed. It makes me feel victorious yet sad. Just last night I looked through my college folder (I am also a very accomplished nerd with an overstuffed folder of everything related to higher education) and realized how old I am, how who I am right now is pretty close to who I will be for the rest of my life. I'll probably never get any taller, and unless I become a pack-a-day smoker my voice will most likely stay the same until I REALLY grow old. Who I am at seventeen could be little different than at seventy-seven.
    So I made some lists. Lists I created to hopefully help me grow, or look at myself in a more positive light, or get out of my comfort zone. And here they are, for the whole world to see, on the blog which I created, ironically, for the very same reasons as my  New Year's Lists:

Things I accomplished in 2014:
-traveled a bit (pretty much Boston, Pennsylvania, and Cape Cod. Yeah, my life is that boring)
-met some pretty awesome new friends, strengthened relationships with old ones, and stopped chasing ones that were just not good for me 
-got taller (I'm officially five foot three! Just one inch below the average American woman baby;)
-drove a car
-stood where the river meets the sea
-went cliff-diving (which was not as impressive as you think but just as exhilarating)
-went on a missions trip <3
-went on a roller coaster for the FIRST TIME EVER!!

 Things I hope to accomplish in 2014:
-my first semester of college (hopefully without gaining the Freshmen Fifteen)
-travel a bit more, hopefully off the East Coast for the first time
-make new friends (but keep the old, one is silver, one is gold;)
-sing and dance and laugh a lot more
-grow (this has to do with my spirituality, as well as my underaverage height)
-cut and donate my hair (for those of you who are tired of me and my very long locks, its for a good cause I swear! As for the cut, I hope to go for something like Anne Hathaway's in the movie Valentine's Day [knowing full well that cutting my hair like her will not make me look like her])
-run more, perhaps in a 5k (I figure by writing about running for all the world to see that I'll actually motivate myself to do so)

And I was going to make a list of Reasons why 2014 is going to be the best year yet, but then I found this John Green video which pretty much sums up what I have to say on that subject:

    Today is January 6th. We are almost a week into a new year, one that hasn't been experienced yet- isn't that phenomenal? I have been thinking that perhaps a new year is a good beginning, a time to put things right, a time to forgive. Of course, there will be things I won't be able to change from last year, but there are plenty of things I can hit the Reset button on at midnight on the last night of the year. So why shouldn't I? Why shouldn't I put myself out there, and banish bad habits, and strengthen my relationship with God? I am so excited to see what the future holds, which goes to show how far I've come in twelve months. 
    Can a year make a difference? I think so. Anything can happen if you make it happen.
--Laura :)