on resolve.

I love New Years' because it is one of those goal-setting times of year (the other prominent ones being birthdays and the start of a new school year). It's not that I am incapable of setting goals on my own, but I love having the promise of a new year as the backdrop for my goal setting.

a few of my goals for 2011:

build my portfolio

ITALY

read more books

design-related job (or internship)

read The Book of Mormon in Italian (now that I've learned my full repertoire of verb tenses this will be much more feasible...since il passato remoto is a key one in this case)

refrain from being whiny when I am tired

(I wrote down a few other goals, but can't remember them offhand; these are the most important ones, though)

My dad always says, "You are in charge of you." This advice is especially applicable when it comes to goals. The goals you set are yours, and for the most part it's up to you to make them happen. But often we discourage ourselves and in doing so, limit what we're able to accomplish.

I'm completely obsessed with this song right now, and something about the chorus feels very fitting for all of this goal setting and internal motivation:

Let's not get ahead of ourselves

There's no need for rain,

It's our own parade

Let's not be afraid of our reflections

It's not only you you're looking at now.

Happy New Year! 2011 will be great, I can feel it.