I’ve never been big on goals. I’ve started so many projects that I never followed through on (including several forgotten blogs all hidden under this same WordPress account). But I feel really pleased with my list, and I’m excited to embark on this project.

I think it’s fitting to kick this off with permission slips, another Brené Brown idea.

My lack of follow through has been a long-time source of shame for me so right from the start, I am giving myself permission to not finish all 42 Things. I don’t say that to get myself off the hook, but mostly as a reminder that my self worth is not dependent upon doing all the Things over the next seven years.

I give myself permission to over-share, and in that same vein, I give myself permission to be totally lame, emo, uncool, and teenagery. I won’t let myself get paralyzed by the need to sound smart, mature, or cool.

I give myself permission to FAIL and to be really bad at any Thing I attempt in the course of this project.

I give myself permission to write “like Jennifer”, featuring made up words, the overuse of em dashes and exclamation points, tons of parenthetical asides, and the adverbization of words at will.

I give myself permission to take naps. Because naps are always a good idea.

I give myself permission to embrace the shitty first draft, a la Anne Lamott.

I give myself permission to skip around the list at will, work on one Thing for a while and then go to another. Except for the Things that are about doing stuff for 30 days. Those will be done in a row, but if I miss a day, I won’t beat myself up about it.