When is the last time you congratulated yourself for what you have achieved in a day, a week, a month, a year, for pete's sake... a lifetime?

I prepared breakfast for my friend, Susan one morning as we talked. As I placed her full breakfast in front of her, she said, "Wow, it didn't even look like you were doing anything." (A recurring appearance.)

Her words come to mind now and then, because I am different than one who is tunnel-visioned or who exudes excessive speed or high energy. In a breakfast cook-off, I may not be jerkying around the kitchen to get everything on the table fast, but that is because I enjoy conversation. Hey, it all gets done and nobody starves on my watch.

Within 2012, I wrote a list of everything I'd accomplished throughout the year. As I wrote, it changed my perspective and illustrated the difference between a half-full and half-empty cup. One half is energizing and the other is soul sucking. Photography by Lauren Garner/Etsy

What have you achieved? Have you made mistakes, got regrets?

Join the club.

Never waste a mistake.

A friend gave me a canvas a few years ago with pictures of little roadway signs that read, "All roads lead to success," and "Even detours." The quote over the images reads:

"Think about your destination, but don't worry if you stray. Because the most important thing is what you've learned along the way." Jillian Hunt

My writing teacher and author always said nobody learns a thing when the characters don't skin their knees, fail. Readers are invested in seeing their characters through to their moment of change and enlightenment.

In real life, maybe the lesson has not yet become clear. Still part of you has risen above your circumstance, and so already you are changed. You have already developed into a new creation.

Mistakes are inevitable, failure is not. Carpe diem!