Happy New Year!

The transition from one year to the next provides an opportunity every year to refresh, to renew, to recharge and to reorient ourselves. That’s often what happens with the resolutions people make as January comes around each year. What have you done? What did you resolve? And, several weeks after the start of the New Year, what is the status of these resolutions for you??

An important perspective is that it shouldn’t take the transition from one year to the next to make resolutions; these can be done at any time. If you’re not satisfied with where you are, then make some changes. If you haven’t reviewed where you are or where you are heading, take a look!

For college campuses, there is a strategy self-assessment, prepared as one of the resources included on this website. This allows campus leaders to prepare a review of drug and alcohol abuse prevention and intervention services; also available is a version to be distributed to a specific group (such as a task force or committee) or an audience (such as randomly selected students) to gather their assessment and insights. The local campus data and scoring are helpful, and can also be compared with a national profile. Thus, campus leaders can make informed decisions about where gaps appear and then plan accordingly.

Similar assessments can be done on all sorts of issues. COMPASS: A Roadmap to Healthy Living, incorporated here and also found at https://compass.gmu.edu, identifies a couple of self-assessment quizzes for each of its 31 topics. If you are interested in a specific topic, check out its resources and take stock of where you are; these and other resources included can help you assess some new directions!

That’s what a New Year, and resolutions, are all about. They are helpful triggers for you to reflect, to review, and to refine where you are going. Life can be a great journey, and can be enhanced a bit at a time, for a healthier tomorrow. Enjoy the journey and the outcomes!