I think all too often we (or maybe just me) come up with a list of reasons we shouldn’t do something. We build our pro/con list but forget to fill out the pro side. There’s always going to be risks with any choice, but most of the time the rewards outweigh the risks. I’m incredibly risk adverse, which makes me a great CPA. However it tends to hold me back in the rest of my life. So for 2016 I am committing to being more fearless. I’m going after the things that have been tugging at my heart strings and following through with ideas that have been swirling around in my brain.

Right before the New Year, I saw an article on Facebook that discussed this crazy challenging lifestyle of a group of monks. You can read about it, here. Now I don’t think that it’s a surprise that only 46 monks have completed this challenge over the last 400 years. My mind was blown when I read the article. Not one part of that challenge sounded appealing. But what I connected with was the author’s message of committing to an idea in your head in order to accomplish your goal. It’s okay if you change your mind along the way or don’t complete your goal. Sometimes our paths change along the journey. But if you don’t commit to whatever your goal is, you’ll certainly never accomplish it.

I have a huge fear of failure. I hate committing to goals/ideas unless I’m 100% sure it’s something I want to do and that I’m certain I’ll be able to accomplish it. But no more! I’ve toyed with the idea of setting a yearly goal of running 1,000 miles in 365 days. It’s about 20 miles a week or three miles a day. When I trained for a marathon in 2013, I only logged 560 miles through my phone’s app (and I ran a shit ton that year). That didn’t count any miles logged on a treadmill during the winter/rainydays/traveling. Still, I’ve been fearful of committing to 1,000 miles in a year. But I’m putting it out there this year. 1,000 miles is my goal for 2016……we’ll see how it ends up.

I also have some project’s I’ve wanted to tackle for a while that I’ve been putting off. One of them is the guest bath room. It’s the only room in the house that hasn’t been updated in some way. It still has the builder beige paint. Everything is the same in that room since the day I first moved in. I like to plan projects out from start to finish and have EVERYTHING mapped out. I really want to do more than just paint this room, but I don’t have a concrete vision for the space. But sometimes things just flow when you start to tackle something, right? I mean what’s the worst that could happen!?

As far as the modern dating saga of my life for 2016 one friend has encouraged me to go out on 48 first dates this year. I wrote in my 2015 year-end post, here, that I went on 20 first dates. Twenty first dates, in one year, is probably more dates than all the other years in my life, combined. But I accepted the challenge, which includes blogging about each one (this should be interesting). Although I am shooting for 48, it’s not an absolute pass/fail challenge. If I meet someone and we date for a while then it’s okay if I don’t make it to 48. The whole point is to go out with guys who I may have disregarded before. But I won’t be putting myself in a situation that would require and S.O.S call. There is nothing worse than an awkward date that you can’t get out of. I hate to be rude and be that girl that goes to the bathroom and never returns (I’ve never done this).

So here’s to a new year and a clean slate. Here’s to taking the opportunities that come along to trying new things, learning new things, and meeting new people. Here’s to living life to the fullest and being fearless.