Talents

It's halfway through January, which means the procrastinator in me has finally pinned down some New Year's goals.

This year, my goals seem a little less ambitious, although for me, they are Mt. Everest.

It involves swallowing pride.

You see, I come from a highly talented family. When I say highly, I mean I have a sister who is so talented with the sewing machine that when she sent me a hand-me-down dress she made for her daughter 4 years ago, my friend thought I'd purchased the dress at Janie and Jack.

And my mom's even better.

There's not much (or anything, I'm trying to be gracious to myself) I could say I can do that someone close to me (mostly family) can do better.

They've got skillz. And that is skills with a "z".

I don't say it as a pity party. I say it for the mere fact that this is fact. And it is this fact that is the motivation behind my New Year ambitions.

This simple fact has kept me from practicing my mediocre talents.

Apparently, I have too much pride. If I can't be the best at it in my family, I'm not going to do it.

And that's why my New Years goal is to practice the meager, baby talents I do have. I want to be a better me. I had a strange pang of guilt listening to a Sunday School lesson on Matthew 25.

So I made up a list.

One of which is to be better read by the end of the year.

I've decided to read 52 books this year. I've stolen this idea from my friend Betsey. That's one book a week. I'll have a monthly come-upence (so as to fully steal Betsey's idea). This also starts on the goal my mother and I made to read the most common books from the millions of "100 Books You Must Read" lists and compile our own version of "100 Books".

Another is to practice the piano 30 minutes daily. Just because every single one of my sisters plays the piano better than I ever could does NOT mean 10 years of lessons should go by the wayside.

And, simply because I've already made headway on this one, I'll tell you of one other shining goal from the list: Crafty Home Decor.

This stems from Pintrest guilt. I have a love-hate relationship with that site and my need to decorate my home.



See? One done. Super easy to make, if you want to make one too. Although cutting a million circles was slightly time-consuming. I recommend a good Netflix show to distract you from the hand cramping.

Hopefully I'll be diligent and give updates on any progress I make on the myriad of abilities I intend to nurse back to health (or into existence, depending on your definition of what constitutes an ability).

That's the goal, at least. Just add it to the list.