“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.
So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.
Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.
Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”

-Neil Gaiman

I’ve mentioned it before, but I don’t like making New Years resolutions. I make goals for myself at times when I feel I need them, but have a read at a blogpost I wrote a couple years ago on resolutions and why I don’t much care for them.

Instead, I take time to reflect on the last year and see how far I’ve come in life. I actually tend to do this a few times a year, but I think it’s healthy. Actually, I *know* it is – this article discusses how introspection is critical for development and socio-emotional well-being.

Taking a look back, the amount of growth I’ve done over the last year is astounding:

• I’ve (almost) let go of a dream, only to find a better one.
• I’ve begun to re-establish a relationship I thought was broken.
• I’ve learned the meaning of friendship, true love, and trust.
• I know I can fall really hard and get back up again… usually with support.
• I’ve discovered what being vulnerable really means.

I learned of Brene Brown a few years ago, and was lead to this amazing TED talk. I encourage you to watch it; it could change your life as it did mine.

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I’ve read Brene’s other books, and I’m in the process of reading her latest, Daring Greatly. It’s so inspiring, I have to stop myself from underlining and highlighting every line in her book!

Being vulnerable is scary. There’s no other real word for it – it’s a totally-exposing, full-of-uncertainty, cringe-worthy, and emotionally-risky feeling. Yet, it’s also freeing. “If we want to reclaim the essential emotional part of our lives and reignite our passion and purpose, we have to learn how to own and engage with our vulnerability and how to feel the emotions that come with it.” (Brene Brown, Daring Greatly)

Learning how to be vulnerable isn’t an overnight thing. There’s a reason why Brene has devoted her entire research towards shame and vulnerability! I’m thankful that, over this past year, I’ve decided to make this more apparent in my life, both at work and in my personal life. I can’t pinpoint a specific event where I subconsciously decided to fully embrace vulnerability, but it really hit me when a friend text me and said, “What I love most about you is you’re not afraid to be vulnerable. And that everyone in your life knows how you feel about them. It’s rare to have someone tell you (and genuinely mean it).” It’s one of those things someone says in passing and forgets, but you remember forever.

To me, being vulnerable is being real. It’s making mistakes. It’s taking risks. It’s bettering yourself.