Happy New Year!

As arbitrary as New Years seems to be, and as ridiculous as the customs are, Happy New Year! Despite more or less general consensus that the year should start January 1st, my 5 minutes of Wiki/Googling could not explain why. It seems the date of the new year changes from country to country and from time period to time period. March 25th seemed to be a common one. Personally, I like the idea of March 25th being the New Year because not only is that the spring equinox (minus a couple days) but also spring typically signifies the beginning of life which is much more 'new yearsy' than the beginning of winter.

As for the customs, I have no official resolutions and I don't believe I have had any for quite a few years. I don't smoke, I only drink once in a blue moon, I don't bite my nails or chew on my hair and I'm exactly the weight I should be for my height. I'm not perfect mind you, but the typical resolutions don't apply to me, so I can't just pick one of the most popular ones and go to town. I would like one though. I like having goals to work toward.

I am, however, 22 years old and still battling acne. I've more or less been winning that battle for a few years now, but I'd been losing for so long that it'll take a while to recover. I have bad genes when it comes to skin. All but one member of my family had severe, severe acne leaving us all scarred and underconfident about our looks. Despite having a predisposition to acne, there ARE things that I can do, or rather refrain from doing, that would help considerably. So...I'm going to come to grips with reality and put it out there for the whole world to see (even though this side of acne is almost never talked about. In fact, I find that over the past few years acne has been painted with a victim's brush which only stagnates progress because it eliminates the personal responsibility aspect to recovery.)

I pick at my skin. There, I said it. I do it. I know I shouldn't, I know it'll make things worse, but it's basically become second nature. It takes me a while to even realise I'm doing it. So, I think that my new years resolution is to break the habit of picking at my skin. I'm not sure if there are any support groups or tips and tricks to it, but I think that if I can break that habit, my skin will thank me for it.

So this is where I leave you. Feel free to comment on your own acne battle, what you resolve to do or not do this year and when you think the new year should begin.