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For the love of resolutions

 

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» Making New Year's resolutions should still be practiced

Naomi Ambrose
Staff Writer

 

Aw new year is here. Can you
guess what else is here as well? If your
answer is that it’s another year to question
the relevance of making New Year's
resolutions, I would like to congratulate
you. However, if you agree that making
New Year’s resolutions remains important,
I’m with you.

While it may be worthwhile to
appreciate both sides, I'd like to focus on
the latter. New Year’s resolutions deserve to
be celebrated and I believe that they don't
get enough credit for their importance.

New Year’s resolutions are great ways
to motivate yourself and there’s no better

time to start a goal than at the beginning
of the new year. It can be a rewarding
experience to follow through with a goal
you make. If you make a promise to
yourself to go to the gym at least three
times a week, youre probably excited at
envisioning the health benefits you'll get
from a good gym workout. Additionally,
when you follow through with your goal,
you'll feel more confident in yourself. As
another example, if you made a resolution
to do some more volunteering, you'll
probably feel happy to know that you'll be
helping someone or some cause that you
care about.

If you didn’t decide to make one of
those resolutions, or any resolutions for
that matter, you won't have that chance to
experience the joy and sense of fulfillment

that one could get from making a goal and
sticking to it.

Making New Year’s resolutions is also
an excellent way to develop your follow-
through skills and stick-to-itiveness. Let’s
say that this year, you told yourself that
youd make a greater effort to perform a
task such as quitting smoking or eating
healthier. These are tasks that many people
have as their goals but rarely actually decide
to do. By committing to this task in the
form of a resolution, even temporarily,
you'll be happier with yourself that you
followed through, whether it was for a few
weeks or months.

You can also think about who else
would be happy with that resolution—such
as your friends, significant others, and your
family.

¢ 'Ralph Breaks the Internet’ is a required
viewing
¢ The need for less boozy LGBTQ+ spaces

..and more!

   

 

New Year’s resolutions are also
excellent tools for self-reflection. Sticking
to your desire to go to the gym or eating
better shows to yourself that you care about
your health and well-being. You are taking
some time to think about the extent to
which you value your health or time—a
question that may ultimately help you to
perform your work, class tasks, or projects
to the best of your ability and lead toa
higher overall quality of life

It’s important to make goals for
yourself and to stick to them, which is what
New Year’s resolutions celebrate. If you've
given up on making these resolutions, it’s
my hope that you'll reconsider—or at least
be inclined to make them next year.

The need for less boozy LGBTQ+ spaces

» Alcohol is only a social lubricant for some

Bex Peterson
Editor-in-Chief

 

f you're looking objectively, without

nuance or barriers, it seems like there
are many opportunities in Vancouver for
LGBTQ+ people to meet and mingle. Pub
crawls, club nights, gay bars—we're almost
famous for it. However, these spaces aren't
as accessible as they might first appear to
be.

It’s nota fresh, new, or nuanced point
to make, but a lot of the gathering and
socializing opportunities for LGBTQ+
people are framed in an alcohol-forward
context. Bars, pubs, clubs—these aren't
exactly quiet sober places. The queer
community in the city especially seems to
run on two separate concepts; you seem to
either have alcohol and party-forward and
focused events, or explicitly sober events.

I’m not here to condemn party-
forward LGBTQ+ spaces. | feel like my
major concern with this issue is that it
often becomes a binary argument, if and
when it does come up. According to the
Canadian Mental Health Association,
LGBTQ+ people are “up to 14 times” more

likely to be at risk for substance abuse,
among other mental health concerns.

I feel like we drive those at risk of
or suffering from substance abuse out of
accepting spaces when it’s all or nothing;
either it’s a party night in Vancouver where
alcohol consumption is basically expected,
or it’s acompletely sober event where
any substance use is prohibited. I also
want to clarify explicitly that I think that
completely sober substance-free events
are extremely important and far rarer than
they should be. For people who have self-
medicated in the past and are recovering
addicts, having a space free of substance
use is incredibly valuable for broader
socialization and for ensuring a safe and
comfortable environment.

I think as a person in the LGBTQ+
community my main concern is the lack
of a broader middle ground. It’s hard to
meet people in the community, to find
more people who share your experience.
For many people, alcohol and substance
use allows a level of freedom. I know
when I first started self-identifying and
understanding who and what I was in
a largely heteronormative and binary
environment, having substance-positive

spaces definitely helped.

However, for people
who aren't comfortable
with a party atmosphere
and especially for younger
LGBTQ+ people, the
club and bar scene can
be incredibly isolating.
You don’t see too many
LGBTQ+ coffeehouse
events that focus on
community-building
(though some do exist and
should be supported)). I
would love more middle-
ground environments;
not explicitly sober, not
explicitly substance-
forward. Places where people under 19 can
hang out and find support and acceptance
from older members of the community,
and places where people can have a quiet
drink or smoke and bond with people
like them without the pressure of a party
atmosphere.

When I first came out and wanted to
bond with a broader community, many of
the most visible opportunities presented
to me were party-oriented. I’m not much

 

of a clubber, but I do enjoy the occasional
drink. It was—and still is—difficult to find
a space in my own community that isn’t
fully one or the other.

It comes down to normalizing the
space that LGBTQ+ people take up and
claim for ourselves. As LGBTQ+ people
though, it is worth asking ourselves the
question when we're looking at events and
initiatives. Who does this event appeal to?
Who are we leaving out?