On New Year’s eve, I went over to my friend Danielle’s apartment and we started off the celebration with a small ceremony in which the four of us new friends each shared our very personal aspirations for 2015.

Danielle dimmed the lights, lit some candles, and we sat in a circle and each took turns being open and honest about our hopes and dreams for the upcoming year. We started off each goal with the term “I will… ” instead of “I want…”, which is a more empowering approach in verbalizing what we wish to accomplish.

I have to say when I verbalized my goals aloud to my new friends, I felt vulnerable. It’s not so often that you state what you really want as something that will definitely happen. It was really liberating in a lot of ways. I even cried a little bit, unintentionally that is, when I said what I expected of myself in 2015.

There was a common theme among us, one of us being male and the other three being female, that we all wish it in our own certain way to stop being so mean to ourselves. When you’re open and honest about your feelings with people that you don’t know all that well yet, it is then that you realize that we has humans share this commonality in our own personal lives that we truly expect a great deal from ourselves and we don’t treat ourselves with the same respect that treat our friends.

One friend will to be less disappointed in himself in terms of his work and career when things didn’t go as well as he planned. He will be as physically fit in 2015 as he can be, because he stated that when he’s physically fit, he is mentally his strongest. Another friend will finally write that book this year that she’s been meaning to write for very long time. She also will be in the best shape of her life, in whatever form that will come to fruition, whether it be physical, mental or emotional.  My other friend decided that she will no longer be angry at her family and forgive, and no longer be upset at herself over small mistakes.

I said I will no longer be mean to myself and that I will treat myself with respect. I will eat only good food, yet I will not beat myself up and obsess over my mistakes. I will try my best to ground myself this year, establish a firmer sense of self, and have more self-confidence because nobody’s perfect.

At the end of each of our verbalizations, we cheered, laughed and danced the whole way through into 2015! It WILL BE the best year yet!