Constantly tearing ourselves down over one mistake is detrimental to our resolutions as well as our mental health. Berating ourselves consistently is no way to live, nor is it a way to achieve the things we want. When we see how successful we can be when completing these smaller, much more manageable goals, it becomes significantly easier to complete all the rest.

If Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert said, “Film can take us where we cannot go,” then I have been all over the world in the past year.

Every year, college-themed New Year’s resolutions take the same predictable form — get in shape, find a job, join a club — but these easy goals leave us distressed when they don’t easily materialize...