The wisest decision I made this year is actually quite a personal one.  I will not go into the details of it, because, as I said, it was quite personal, but the results have been nothing but wonderful.  My family kicked-butt as the best support system ever.  I had no doubt they would be, but their dedication to understanding and educating themselves on what I was dealing with was heart warming and, for lack of a better word, AWESOME.  I couldn’t have made this decision without knowing they were behind me with all their love and support.

I love you.

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I have been blessed to be part of a beautifully creative community that I found at the end of 2009.  I am not sure I would give them a name except “My Friends”.  They are entrepreneurs, creatives, thinkers, artists, dreamers, musicians, hard-workers, and inspiring to the max!

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What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

So this isn’t the last thing that I made, but it is something that I really enjoy making and try to make as often as possible.

I love to bake, specifically cupcakes!  I like to decorate them and I have all the fun little tools that a “profesh” cupcake maker would need and of course cupcake cookbooks galore!

Last Christmas I got this great mold for a GIANT cupcake and I finally got around to making one for my friend Brian to celebrate his job promotion this year.  It’s not the most intricate one I have ever made, but it was definetly made for a wonderful reason and with lots of love. 

Congrats BriGuy, you deserved it!

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What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?

This year I did battle with myself.   Like major battle.  Like cut throat, take no prisoners battle.

Seems like the perfect situation right? Cause either way I win, but no. Turns out you can kick your own ass harder than you can anyone else on this planet.

I was out for perfection, I wanted to have the perfect year since 2009 had been kinda a crappy one, the perfect job since I had lost my job in 2009, the perfect apartment since I had been living at home, the perfect everything, but by June I was exhausted. I needed a break from myself and more than that I needed to cut myself some slack.

I attended the TEDxHouston event in early June and the first presenter of the morning was a wonderful speaker by the name of Dr. Brene Brown.  She had 18 minutes to speak.  She began and I was captivated by her message.

Dr. Brown’s talk kicked me in the gut so hard I would have fallen over had I not been sitting.  She spoke about the reality of vulnerability in our lives and how it was necessary for us to be vulnerable to truly live, as she calls it, whole-heartedly.

As if that wasn’t enough of a kick upside the head she then said, there is no such thing as perfection.  “What?!?!  Yes HUH!  I have been a perfectionist all my life”

I had to talk to this lady.  I got up the courage to ask Dr. Brown to attend the first ever TEDxHouston Book Club, where we chose to read one of her first books, I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t): Telling the Truth About Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power.  In her visit with the book club she told us about her next book which was being published within the next month, the title, The Gifts of Imperfection.  “Was this lady out to break me?!?”

A month after our book club meeting I attended Dr. Brown’s book launch party and that’s when I finally “gave up”.  I couldn’t do the perfect thing anymore….

I mean the fact of the matter was I couldn’t even describe what a perfectionist was, so how the hell was I going to be one, and to another point, I was just freaking tired.

I still have really bad days where the perfectionist in me comes out, but I am aware that she is there and that she is wrong.  I don’t have to make it to every event, I don’t have to sacrifice my own health for others, and more importantly I am allowed to say No, nicely of course.

So to answer this question, in 2010 I gave up perfectionism, cause frankly I am too busy being unforgettable to be perfect.

Thanks Dr. Brown for kicking my butt.  I needed it.

Hugs!

Jessica

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Ehhhhhhh Sic’Em Bears!!!

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How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?

Attending the TEDxHouston event this year has to one of the most amazing things that happened to me in 2010.  As many of you have read from some of my past post, everything from the application process, to attending the actual event and then the creation of the first TEDxHouston Book Club has been a WONDER-ful ride.

It was this event that inspired me to reach out to the Houston community and unite some of the most intelligent, diverse, unique and talented people in the same room once a month to talk about make us wonder…

Congrats again to Culture Pilot and all the amazing volunteers for putting on such a great event.

A BIG THANK YOU to my TEDxHouston Book Clubbers, you guys are such an amazing group of people and I really appreciate your patience with me as I had to cancel our last meeting due to personal events.   I really can’t wait for our meetings in 2011!  I miss you guys!

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