What I Learned About Myself This Year  

Just about a year ago, I made a resolution to do three things in 2011:

Resolution #1: Wash my face twice daily
Result: Epic fail. I had a baby, I barely had time to wash my face once a week for a while there

Resolution #2: Be more accountable with our money
Result: Depends on who you ask. If you ask me, we did a great job of this. If you ask my husband, he'll tell you I'm right up there with Ebeneezer Scrooge when it comes to managing finances.

Resolution #3: Cook more
Result: I cooked one chicken breast this year... and that happened last week.

Turns out, 2011 was about much more than getting our financial ducks in a row or failing to enhance my (lack of) culinary skills. 2011 was a pretty transcendental year for me.

Over the past 12 months, I've learned to let things go. To give things up. Old grudges, my fear of failure, my perfectionism: they're all gone (well, mostly gone).

I learned that I don't have to try so hard to make people like me. I think this is less a lesson I learned and more a result of growing older. As I approach 30, I realize that, first of all, it doesn't matter if everyone likes me or not, and secondly, I decided that I didn't care. Because of that, I was more willing to help strangers without expecting anything out of it, to strike up a conversation with the woman on the treadmill next to me at the gym, to leave a funny comment on an old acquaintance's Facebook page.

I realized this year that I don't have to always be in control. I learned that some of life's most beautiful moments -- and in some cases, life itself -- happens when you least expect it, even when you least want it. I found that having faith is far more important than having power.

I learned that I don't always have to be right -- and more importantly, that I don't always have to fight to prove it. I learned that sometimes, most of the time, actually, it's ok not to have the last word.

I learned not to be so hard on myself. I had been pushing and pushing and pushing myself toward some unattainable level of perfection, trying to be a person and make the kind of decisions that didn't really fit who I was or where I was in life. I was trying to be something I wasn't -- something I didn't want to be -- and wasn't giving myself the benefit of the doubt. I learned to give others the benefit of the doubt as well.

But most importantly, I learned to like myself this year. It sounds simple, maybe too simple, but it's a lesson 29 -- almost 30 -- years in the making.