I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate,
A poet, a pawn and a king.
I've been up and down and over and out
But I know one thing:
Each time I find myself flat on my face,
I pick myself up and get back in the race.

I wanted 2012 to be the year when I magically jumped from the life I have to the life of an independent, healthy, charming, and responsible adult. I also wanted my pixie cut to instantly turn into Rapunzel hair. Some sort of portal between here and England would've been nice, too.

Reality check: none of those things happened!

But looking back, I am so proud of myself for rolling with the punches. I don't have a very good track record of dealing with change or adversity. Bad grade on a test? Curl up with The Lord of the Rings movies for twelve hours instead of studying. Tough times at the office? Spend every evening playing World of Warcraft instead of figuring out how to make things better. Feeling bad about watching movies and playing video games instead of dealing with life? Read a book. Watch Doctor Who. Do laundry. Re-organize earrings to be sorted by size instead of color. Re-organize earrings to be sorted by color instead of size.

Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Basically, my coping mechanism is to ignore problems and hope they go away.

It works out super well .01% of the time, and admitting that has been the first step in stopping the madness. The next part seems to be surrounding myself with people and things that inspire me to keep my chin up, to get back on my feet, and so on. It's the whole "you are what you eat" philosophy except that I don't typically eat books, tweets, or friends. Still, I'm making changes for the better in all those areas, and I'm really excited about it.

Since one of the areas I'm focusing on first is my financial situation, I've started blogging for Dimespring. I'm part of a group of 30 people from all stages of life sharing tales or thoughts related to personal finance. Being part of that community has been an ongoing source of encouragement for me, and I invite you to check out what I've written (duh) but also what the other peeps are writing.

I'm also taking care of what I ingest via social media, unfollowing people left and right if they don't consistently bring me joy, inspiration, and/or really good belly laughs. Some very good friends haven't made the cut, but I hope they'll forgive me and let me keep in touch some other way. (Let's meet up for doughnuts! Cupcakes? Listen, if you don't want to share sugary delights with me, maybe we shouldn't be friends anyway.)

Surrounding myself with the good and keeping out the bad also applies to what I read (books, magazines, blog posts), what I listen to (podcasts, music), and kittens (cannot live without one). It feels good to fuel myself with awesomeness on a regular basis. I could probably bring about world peace or something if I put my mind to it.

So if 2012 was the year of learning not to back down or hide, 2013 is the year of putting up that shield and plowing forward through whatever crazy stuff lies ahead. And gosh dang it, I can't wait.

And maybe it is also the year my hair grows out twenty inches overnight. A GIRL CAN DREAM.