Hey. So 2013 is over, huh? Let's all talk about that. Maybe we'll get more blogs out by talking about ourselves first.

The Best Year Ever

Many a person often creates a goal for themself at the beginning of a new year, usually calling it their New Year resolution. My New Year resolution for last year was to have an overall better life by the year's end, and I made a list of what to improve about my life to go by. Here it is:

Maturity
Education
Health
Appearance
Social life
Love Life
Finance

The phrase is "first things first", and the first things on my list are maturity and education, so let's talk about my social life first since those two first things iz stooped and boring.

I've always had a strong dislike for social situations and I don't often make friends. Whenever I'm hanging around a group of people I feel this increasingly intense sense of not belonging, as though I'm not only unfit to be near others but am also completely unwanted. I'm sure I don't know why, but that's how it is. I don't doubt that plenty of you have also felt this way at one point or another, as it seems to be part of the human condition, so hopefully you can read this and learn what you can do to improve your social life just as I have.

Some time near the beginning of last year I was asked by a few old classmates if I'd go out with them to shop and such. I normally would have declined, but I said yes, because that's the social thing to do, right?

So we were at the mall. I was a bit uneasy and leavy, so I hid by the person there I was most familiar with. That may sound contrary to the idea of being more social, seeing as how you'd naturally think it would keep me from being noticed or becoming familiar with the other people there, but I assure you it wasn't. I barely knew the person, so it gave me a chance to get closer to them and branch out. And though I may have struck the group as unfamiliar, I was anything but unnoticed.

A lot of people have some object or technique or piece of clothing they use to comfort themselves, and I'm no different. To help cope with the situation that day I wore my favorite clothes. I had on my best shirt and shoes and all that, and I have to say that it really did help. I felt so much better doing that.

I was out with friends, I had on my favorite outfit, and so I just had the actual talking left to worry about. I know people say that it's best to just be yourself and that you shouldn't worry about whether or not other people like you. Just be you and it'll be okay. So I did just that. I did what came naturally to me and I spoke what I felt, and it went fantastically. It put me at ease and I was able to enjoy myself. It was very liberating and fun.

By doing all that I've been able to drastically improve the quality of my social life throughout the year, and by more frequently using my various clothes and outfits to help me along I've additionally been able to improve my appearance as well.

I'm now at a place I'm happy with. I'd definitely say 2013 has been my best year yet, and I have high hopes for 2014.

So you see, it isn't very difficult to be social. It's also very rewarding. As long as you say yes to life and be yourself, things can get better.

No matter who you are.

Even if you aren't perfect.

Just be you.

No one is perfect.

We all have our flaws.

Even if you don't quite share and believe the ideas that are generally accepted as the norm. What I'm saying is, if you're a little different, that's just fine. People will accept you for who you are.

Even if, for example, you don't consider being "nice" or "friendly" to be part of a fulfilling social life.

Let's say you're an individual with, let's call it "unique", ideas and feelings. Let's also say you're very "unique" all around. And you have certain "unique" tastes.

Such an individual with different ideas and unique tastes, and once again this is just an example (I can't stress that enough), such a person might like to wear certain outfits in social situations. This might make being around others easier and more entertaining.

And let's also say that this unique person in their certain outfit in a social situation also happens to enjoy behaving in a manner befitting, for example... a koala.

Is that wrong?

No. Not at all. They're just being themself. You should accept them. Be their friend. Open up to them just as they've clearly opened up to you given how at ease they are doing such things around a group of people they barely know.

Believe me, if such a person existed and went through improving their social life by being themself in that they start going to the mall with strangers while clinging to someone's back, dressed as a koala, being openly rude because they enjoy angering slow people, and then repeating that sort of behavior again and again every time they're invited out, they'd end up in a happy place. Just as I have. Being myself, that is. Not the koala bit. I'd never do that.

Happy New Year, everyone.