Lesson #12: Be Merry. Be Bright.

I said it once and I’ll say it again — 2013 was not my year.

My family has a tradition of gifting couples silver bells for the Christmas tree that signifies a special moment in that year for the couple. For 28 years, I received no silver bell as I was never married or in a serious relationship. In 2012, I declared that this rule for couples only was bullshit and I wanted to receive my earned Christmas gift of a silver bell — man or not. My mother happily agreed.

Mom emailed me in November 2013 asking what I would like engraved for 2013 and I legitimately didn’t have a significant moment to remember. My job had taken a turn for the worse, I didn’t kiss one guy I actually liked, I didn’t make any sort of advances personally or  professionally, and I didn’t follow through on the one promise I had told myself to do — which was to go out of the country on a well-earned vacation. So I told my mother to engrave, “To the small victories.”

I had a lot of small victories this year. I learned to stand up for myself in a tough work situation. I taught myself Excel skills that makes me want to stab a fork in my eye but I am now better at my job consequently. I still have my health (perhaps not my liver but we’ll deal with that in the older years), and I am surrounded by an amazing network of friends and family who encourage my well-being and personal development. The men of Los Angeles kept kicking me down (metaphorically of course) and yet I keep standing up, and I try, try again.

So I will leave you with my final Christmas 2013 lesson  – Be Merry. Be Bright. 

I had more downs than ups in 2013. I realize that I have a tendency to dig myself into a dark hole that only I can dig myself out of. You can call it a Gemini thing or just an almost 30 breakdown thing. But I also realize how lucky I am to have found an amazing group of people in one of the most fickle cities in the world (Los Angeles, you mean motherf–ker, I’m talking about you). They are the people that walk to the bar with you on a Thursday night because your job killed you for 4 days straight and listen to you sob about Excel formulas and lack of a dating life over beer and quesadillas. They are the people who talk you into last-minute decisions that leave you smiling for days.

So thank you, friends, for helping me through a tough year. And thank you, family, for giving me something to look forward to.

Good things are coming in 2014. So — Be Merry. Be Bright.