So this is Christmas...and what have you done?

Unsurprisingly, this time of year always makes me reflect on my life - who am I? What am I doing? What can I do better? What do I need to change? And like always, I have a laundry list. But as the years go by, I realize more and more (and have to continually remind myself) that I don't have to be you, you don't have to be me, and I don't have to be the perfect superstar I try and contort myself into.

I will not be wonderful and magically gifted at everything I do, and that's ok. I don't ever want to have regrets for not trying. Even if I fall flat on my face, so what? Always aim high, dream big, go for broke, but give yourself permission to fail. Give it all you've got, and let that be enough. Sydney J. Harris said, "Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable."

So dear ones, whatever is on your list, go for it: run the marathon, go back to school, open a business, travel around the world, propose. Yes, it may be scary as hell, but do it anyway. Be courageous! And if you fail, you fail. You TRIED. You'll be glad you did, and I'm convinced, be better for it.


~M

P.S. If you don't have a list, for goodness sake, make one! Pretend you're creaky and old and at the end of your life, what would you mourn over not having done? What are mine? Well, actually writing everything down is really my #1, but a few highlights are:
  1. Get out and make new friends. I let myself live far too reclusive a life.
  2. Apply to art school, and if I get in, figure out how the heck I'm going to pay for it and move 1,200 miles away (yikes!).
  3. Host a major family holiday (gulp).
  4. Lighten up, love more, laugh more, and enjoy the journey.