A new year tends to require the obligatory resolutions to be healthier, keep your checkbook balanced or get better grades, but what does a new semester require?

The start of a new semester tends to demand that you get your sleep schedule back in order, find the willpower to return to 8 a.m. classes and brave the bone-chilling walk on the way to class.

However, some of our own habits tend to make these tasks and resolutions that much harder to complete and accomplish.

I like to refer to these habits as ‘toxic’ habits.

We’ve all been there: the dysfunctional relationship with your significant other that clouds your judgment and steals away your time, being pressured by your roommate to go out on a Wednesday night instead of studying, or spending entirely too much money on fast food.

These habits prevent you from reaching your goals, whether it be staying healthy, spending less, maintaining stable relationships with your friends, or even just staying healthy.

So instead of making lofty resolutions that you know you will forget, or entirely ditch, this semester is a time to rid yourself of toxins.

Think of it as a cleanse for your life.

Clean out anything preventing you from achieving all those New Year’s resolutions that you swore you would hold onto.

If it doesn’t make you happy or increase the quality of your life, drop it.

There is definitely a healthy balance between work and play, and each individual has to find their own perfect medium.

This is the first taste of freedom you experience outside of your parents’ home.

Just because no one is giving you a curfew and demanding that you keep your grades up, doesn’t mean you have to go bananas because that’s what your friends are doing.

You make your own decisions.

If you would rather go see a movie than go to a bar, go see a movie.

If you would rather attend a live music performance than go to a sporting event, Charleston frequently has live music.

I can guarantee you won’t be alone in that decision.

Down the road, you will regret not taking the opportunity to experience things that interest you solely in the name of pleasing others.

Even though it’s second semester, it’s not too late to join a club or organization, or find your perfect Saturday night hobby.

So if your New Year’s resolution was to start a Bigfoot hunting club that meets every other Thursday night at Fox Ridge State Park, do it.

Just don’t let anything keep you from using your college experience to better your life.

Katelyn Siegert can be reached at 581-2812 or kesiegert@eiu.edu.