Happy, happy New Year! I can NOT believe that it is 2016. It is so hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that it is now 2016. This year is going to be a very big one for me and I couldn’t be more excited.

I hope that the holidays treated you and yours kindly. The days after Christmas are always so tricky, I always find it so hard to say goodbye to the festivities and fun that accompany the holiday season, but I also know that it always rolls back around ridiculously fast.

This year is the first year in my recent memory that I can recall writing any kind of resolutions for myself. Goals and ideas have always rolled around in the back of my mind, but it has been a rare few times that I have bothered to put pen to paper to draft something “official.” Recently, however, I have had a lot on my mind in terms of goals for myself…some related to health and fitness, others to my creative aspirations. And so, it seemed like a suitable time to start making some plans and writing them down– if only to help hold myself accountable.

One of my biggest themes is decision-making. Decision-making and having true and total confidence in the decisions that I do make. When it comes to that, I am the worst. I think that planning a wedding has really put the spotlight on my indecisiveness and it’s starting to get to me!

When I was younger, I felt like I needed to have an entire board of people weighing in on my choices…in hindsight, I think that at that point in my life, it was a confidence issue.

In time, I have made serious progress, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t still revert. And what time is more obvious than during wedding-planning when you are making 1,035 decisions a day. BIG decisions about what will, hopefully, be one of the most important and memorable days of your life!

For example, I am having a HELL of a time choosing a wedding dress. I seriously think that Pinterest has zapped us of our own minds and preferences. (Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Pinterest and could waste an entire day scrolling through the pages, but I also think it is incredibly dangerous for individuality and creativity. More on that at another juncture, eh?) Here are the things that I have been considering when narrowing down my selections: What I think others will like best. What I think BRYAN will like best. What my mom likes. What my sister likes. What my bridesmaids like. What is generally most likeable. What is most like “…that wedding that I saw on Facebook from the fall that was stunningly gorgeous?!”

What’s missing from that list?

What I like best. Me. Brittany. The Bride. Bryan’s almost wife. The one who will be wearing the dress. Brittany.

I can honestly say that I don’t think that I have considered this once. Not really, at least.

I can tell you from personal and recent experience that when you put every. other. opinion in the universe in front of your own, nothing good will result. Hurt feelings and confusion are the most likely outcomes.

I have found myself comparing every ounce of my special day to someone else’s… because I saw X,Y,Z on the Insagrapinterbook. Are my special touches pretty enough? Trendy enough? Romantic enough? How about this one: Are the US enough!? The thing that makes a beautiful wedding is beautiful love, and I am pretty sure that if nothing else in the world, that I have found.

We have about five months left. Five months where I will allow myself to get ideas from sources, and maybe, if I’m really, truly stuck, maybe I’ll ask a friend or two, but I will STOP comparing. I will know that there are ten million wedding styles because there are that many, if not millions more, different and unique personalities and styles. That my day should reflect me and my husband.

I know that the focus of this post has been on wedding-related decisions, but that is just what is hot on my mind these days. It applies to all things. What better time to make a promise to myself and to set a goal than two days before the new year?

Today I stumbled across this quote that really pulled everything together for me:

“​Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma– which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” –Steve Jobs

You do you, I’ll do me and together, we will be radiant.