List was just guide to living in present, learning from past mistakes

My New Year's resolution for 2010 was to live in the present.

So I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish for the year. Things I'd never done before - things I wanted to do.

Some were simple. I swung in a tire swing, flew a Spider-man kite, traveled more, ate less Taco Bell, sent a message in a bottle and became more spontaneous.

Some items on my list were harder than others. I built a house of cards (pretty

successfully), attempted a Rubix

cube, became a hugger and didn't date any of my ex boyfriends.

I also built friendships through this list. When people find out about it - it's instinctive to offer help.

Eventually, they made their own so one list became multiple and I was (literally) running around accomplishing all sorts of things. I was letting people change my life, no matter how simple the task.

This was just a guide to help me with my new year's resolution. I think as humans, it's hard to not let your past influence who you are today. You can set yourself up in similar situations and your head can say ‘yeah, that's a bad idea.'

But in reality, it's just based on a situation that seems to shadow another one (which is just kind of how things are).

And with every list, there are things I couldn't cross off. Challenges. Things I'll continue to work on in 2011.

While I've accomplished a lot this year, it doesn't mean that I didn't have the same feelings. I was still hurt, I was helped, I laughed and I listened. I found new passions, let old ones go and changed my mind a lot.

But through it all, I let go. I thought about my past, but I didn't let it influence my future.

Just because a friendship, relationship, situation or a Monday morning didn't work out my way doesn't mean that I'm just going to avoid everything. I've just gotten smarter about decisions. I've learned from my mistakes and mishaps.

So in 2011, I'm still going to live in the present.

But I'm also going to challenge myself (a lot.) And I'm sure that will make for an even greater year.