What I Learned in 2011

• Just because everyone else is excited about it doesn't mean I have to be.

• You really cannot over-prepare for the financial side of a sabbatical.

• The opposite of holding a grudge is not re-inviting someone back into my life.  Sometimes it is just better to say, "That's in the past, and I'm now in a good place in my life. I wish you the same." And then let go.

• Just get the work done.

• I cannot think or write in soundbites, and that is fine.

• New York City is best nine floors up.

• I prefer Facebook over Google+ because I do not like picking and choosing who gets what from me; I'd rather throw it all out there and let other people pick and choose what they want (if anything).

• The less I carry with me, the happier I am; I mean that literally, but it works figuratively, too.

• When my mother died, my life changed forever.  There was a time to grieve what I lost.  Now is the time to celebrate the life I have, which she gave me.

• Schadenfreude may have its place in life, but it's a small one.

• I have no reason ever to step on a scale again because it is better to pay attention to the numbers on my blood pressure machine than the numbers on a scale.  Even during my annual physical, I can tell the doctor I don't want to know what the scale says even if he does.

• Diet and exercise are words I don't want or need to use in my life.

• There is value and pleasure in reading fiction.

• How many times do I have to be hit across the head before I ask, "Excuse me. What was that again?" Actually, asking that happens often; it's listening to the answer that needs to happen now.

• I'm missing out on less than I think I am.