The Dom Pérignon
On January 1, 2023 a good friend of mine and I poured some sparkling water and sat at her kitchen table brainstorming New Year’s resolutions. Once we had a list ready of our goals, we went to the store and bought a bunch of bottles of champagne. Most of the bottles were pretty cheap but they were a way of celebrating various achievements throughout the year. As we strolled through the champagne aisle, I decided to splurge; if I made it through the whole year and reached every goal, I would pop a bottle of Dom Pérignon.
So I bought the bottle that day and in the wine fridge it has been sitting… for 16 months.
Between the two of us, our 2023 goals included specific things in the following categories: personal projects, house projects, mental health and physical health. Throughout the year, especially in those first few months, there were several goals that we both hit and got to celebrate; publishing my book, almost exactly a year ago today, was one of them.
I hit a lot of my goals, but there were a few I missed and so I never felt like I could pop the Pérignon… until this week.
On Thursday night, I headed over to her house. Along with our spouses and other friends, we made pizza, we played games, and we just enjoyed each others company. There was nothing exceptional about this day but I decided to bring the bottle with me because when I think about the people we were on January 1, 2023, and the people we are now, well… we may not have hit every goal but our lives are certainly something to celebrate.
My book and a lot of what I post is about setting goals and making plans. I believe in what I write; if you want to get somewhere that’s challenging you need a map. But you also need to remember that sometimes you’re gonna get that map wrong. Sometimes you set too many goals, or unrealistic goals. Sometimes something in your life changes and you don’t want to reach your goal anymore; my friend’s plans changed but she has a beautiful baby boy in her arms instead.
The Dom Pérignon was great motivation for me; knowing it was sitting in my fridge challenged me to stick with what I wanted, and it worked for most of the year. Unfortunately, a year is a really long time; it will be rare to ever lay out a map toward a goal that stays valid for 365 days. You will always need to pivot and adjust, and sometimes you’ll need to just accept that you didn’t reach the big goal but maybe where you ended up is still worth celebrating.
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