Editor’s Note: I originally wrote this post three years ago, and I completely forgot about it until one of my best friends texted me a picture of the printout she made of it years ago. She’d kept it despite a few moves; it originally was tacked to her cubicle wall as inspiration. (Do I have the most supportive and amazing friends or what?!) Having this article resurface couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s all too easy to get swept up by life. We feel bound by endless obligations, responsibilities, to-do lists—all of the things we “should” be doing—and while I’m a planner by nature, life isn’t about obligations. It’s about balance: equal parts responsibility and spontaneity. Work hard, do what you love, when you want to; that is the ultimate freedom. I love New Year’s Eve, the anticipation of something new and possibly wonderful is titillating. Cheesy, perhaps, but the phenomenon of making resolutions and giving thanks is but a testament to just how powerful our minds are: if we believe in a reset button, tabula rosa is exactly what we’ll get. We live on hope, thrive for potential. After all, it’s the human thing to do. And while we…