Defining a Personal Mission for 2017

This time of year, everyone is obsessed with reflecting, re-evaluating, and making resolutions. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of resolutions — I’ve always felt like making them was somehow setting myself up for failure. Resolutions sound so, well… resolute. And while the idea of being unwavering in your goals is noble, we are only human, and we are bound to waver eventually.

That said, over this past year I have grown to value intentionality and self-improvement more than ever before. So, I knew that in order to feel true to myself, I should spend a bit of time reflecting on my “resolutions” — or, as I decided to call it — my 2017 mission and goals.

My Creative “Genius” (… and Her Persistent Mid-night Visits)

A few months ago, my friend Macy shared a fascinating TED Talk with me about creativity. In the talk, writer Elizabeth Gilbert (author of the bestselling memoir, Eat, Pray, Love) shares her personal struggle around the fact that her “greatest creative success” may already be behind her, and give creatives the scape-goat idea that their “creative genius” may not always be available. You can watch her full 18-minute talk here, but in case you don’t have time, I’ll summarize the gist of it: