“If I had a time machine, I probably wouldn’t even use it.”

-Goldman Sachs Elevator Gossip

Today my mind started to wander and I soon found myself reflecting on how I spent 2012.

I can say, in all honesty, that this year was both the best and most import of my life.

In the past 12 months I’ve managed to accomplish such tasks as:

• Scuba Diving in Belize
• Climbing a volcano in Nicaragua
• Reading over 250 books
• Getting in the best shape of my life (so far)
• Starting two businesses
• Becoming a paid writer

While I had a lot of fun doing everything listed above, I also learned a lot from my year’s worth of failures. Some of the highlights of my 2012 mishaps include:

• Running one of my businesses into the ground
• Getting so stressed out that I didn’t talk to anyone for an entire month
• Having said stress cause me to burst out in tears while eating a bacon cheeseburger (in retrospect this is actually pretty hilarious)
• Over-scheduling myself, resulting in me pulling a series of all-nighters. My sleep deprivation eventually caused me to nod off while driving, drift into the oncoming traffic lane, and almost get hit by a semi-truck. But that’s another story for another time.
• Forgetting to pack the guide-book for my Nicaragua trip, resulting in me contracting Salmonella from a shoddy restaurant.

Both my triumphs and loses had an immense impact on my world view and understanding of self. My experiences this year alone taught me more about: sacrifice, achievement, patience, persistence, endurance, recovery, modesty, and acceptance; than I’d ever learned before.

Here’s to 2013, I’m looking forward to it.