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CALLIOPE’S COLUMN

December

New Year, Same(ish) Me

With a new year upon us, I find myself reflecting on what I’ve accomplished in the last twelve months and what I’ve yet to do. The accomplishments of others can be inspiring. But they can also be daunting. They can make you feel like a failure just as easily as they can motivate you. As they say, comparison is the thief of joy. But so is complacency. It’s easy to stop moving forward when life feels daunting. To freeze and believe that since doing it all feels like too much of a challenge, you might as well not try.

That’s a place I never want to wallow in.

No, I may never be a New York Times bestseller, but maybe I will. I won’t know if I don’t try. It’s quite possible I’ll never travel to half the places on my bucket list, nor experience all I want to in my life, but there is still so much I can do.

Maybe bungee jumping will be removed from my list, but I’m adding things I never thought I would. Like marriage and a house. And a book signing.

These aren’t items I’m actively working to check off my list yet. But one day, I will. It’s wild, how much I want them, these things I never thought I was interested in, let alone believed I could have.

Along with all of that, though, I want to stay a bit wild.

And remind myself that I can have it all, even if having it all looks different from what I once imagined.