2017 - The Year of Failure

I don't think I posted at all in 2016.  And I pretty much accidentally deleted all the photos for earlier blogs and they didn't make a damn bit of sense without the photos, so yeah.  It's like a fresh start.  For the umpteenth time.  But guess what?  I love fresh starts.  I love starting over.

I moved every year from age 17 until age 38.  That's 19 years of moving every year.  Some years, I moved every 6 months.  Even when I didn't change companies, I usually changed jobs within the company at least once a year.  My hair color changes at least once a year, sometimes every six months.  I've been married three times.  Starting over is my jam.

Here's what's funny though, none of these feel like failures.  Moving every year never felt like I was a loser who never stayed in one place, it just felt like I wanted to move more often.  When I had to move because of rent increases, it was an adventure.  A chance to clean out my closets and re-organize my silverware drawer.  I loved the possibilities of my new places and never felt sad about leaving my old apartments.  It's not to say that every apartment was perfect.  I remember one of my favorite apartments that I moved into was across the street from an empty gravel lot.  As it turns out, that lot was only empty because it housed heavy equipment and trucks at night.  They fired up all those trucks and heavy equipment between 4 and 5am so they could get to job sites nice and early.  It was right outside my bedroom window.  Ha!

  Changing jobs?  Same thing.  I was always looking forward to the new challenge.  Sometimes it worked out, sometimes it didn't.  Changing hair colors?  I do it all the time.  And sometimes I don't get the result I wanted (red hair was a no go for me and right now I'm pondering going darker again) but it doesn't stop me from trying again.  Or doing something entirely different.

Blonde as blonde can be.

Brunette all the way!

A little bit of blonde with my brunette.

Marriages?  Well, let's just say I've found what works and I'm sticking with it.  But I will also say that I was never one to worry too much over relationships and if for some reason (not that I think it would because Dave is way too awesome) my current marriage didn't work out, well...I'd start over.  Because failure is how we learn.  And my failed marriages led to this awesome marriage.  My failed jobs led to figuring out what I wanted (and didn't want).  Every failure gets you closer to where you DO want to be.

So - this year, 2017 is going to be the year of taking this attitude into everything.  I've got some big ideas and maybe they'll work and maybe they won't, but starting over isn't a thing.  It's just a chance to see things from a new perspective, decide if the current direction is the right direction and to try lots and lots of new things.  Here's to 2017 and may we all fail often, early and without judgement of ourselves.

p.s. I may be starting up some free talks on failure with my coachy coach business soon.  If you want to get on my  mailing list when I send out information, sign up here.