2010 was, without question, the worst year of my life. In the years since then, I’ve made many purposeful changes to improve things for myself: moving, changing jobs, beginning and ending relationships, and most of all, setting myself up for as most personal success and happiness as is within my power to do. I can honestly say that I am happier now than I think I’ve ever been. Chalk it up to getting older, but I feel so much more comfortable with myself and who I am than I did even just a few years ago. I’m not afraid to make big changes to improve my life. If things in 2010 had gone differently, I wouldn’t be in Austin now. My career may never have taken the turns that it has. And I would never have met some of the most wonderful people that I get to say are in my life now.

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, mostly because I’m cynical about, well, most things, but also because I feel that if there’s a change that’s worth making, it’s worth making now and not waiting around for some temporal milestone to come around to make good on it. This is to say that I don’t have any resolutions this year (duh), but I do have some fun tricks up my sleeve for 2016, and I cannot WAIT to see how this year unfolds. Being of the ‘hope for the best, plan for the worst’ mentality, I’m well aware that life has a way of throwing you curveballs when you’ve got the best-laid plans all ready to go. Cautious optimism: it’s the new black.

So instead of ‘resolutions’, I’ll call them ‘mantras’. For this year, my mantra is ‘Fearlessness, in Style!’ Hope you’ll follow along and share your plans and goals for the new year as well.

2016 strong, y’all.

My New Year’s Eve look to ring in 2016 at the Willie Nelson concert! (This was taken at home beforehand, obvs.)
The show of a lifetime requires the look of a lifetime, I always say.