This is my favorite time of year and not for the reason many love it. To be honest, trying to find the perfect gift for coworkers I hardly know in a Secret Santa, sisters who say things like “ I’ll take a cheap purse, but make sure it looks expensive,” and those who say “ oh just get me anything!” gives me anxiety. No, this is my favorite time of the year because I get to set new goals or ‘resolutions’ and look back at what I accomplished in the last year. I’ve gotten better at making these goals since I figured out the trick to completing them.
It wasn’t easy. Growing up I thought my family tradition of eating 12 grapes at midnight and making a wish on each one was setting a resolution. Needless to say, not many of my “resolutions” came to fruition. I should have known something was not right when my favorite aunt would eat her grapes while carrying an empty suitcase around the block to ensure she’d travel often in the upcoming year. Every year she would do the same thing and every year she never made if further than Brooklyn.
As I got older I created goals that were impossible for me to keep. Such as, swimming across a lake (I can’t swim), driving cross country (I can’t drive), training a puppy to fetch (I’m scared of dogs). I learned to create goals that were more attainable but if I couldn’t succeed then I would give up and forget the resolution all together. That’s when I learned how to make sure I would keep every resolution I set each year.
To make sure I succeeded I had to be able to fail.
the Ella project 