Have my own words come back to bite me in the ass or did I accomplish my goals in 2011?

2011 was a wonderful, exhilarating year. I fulfilled four life-long dreams — traveling to Australia and Hawaii, sky-diving and bungy-jumping — and learned how to have patience in a relationship that seemed to be worth it. I also learned how and when to cut my losses, as I promised I would. It’s good to know that, though I immediately forgot my resolutions as soon as I made them, my subconscious forced me to stick to my guns. Or is that just maturity rearing its ancient head?

If you’re expecting me to gripe about making resolutions, you’re out of luck. I adore promising my future self that she will make her life better, dammit. I think it’s important to set goals for myself, however small — both in love and in life.

In love, these small goals are simply ways of growing up and preparing myself for the relationship I deserve to have. As I’ve sad before, no relationship should ever be considered a mistake as long as it was a learning experience and you grew from it. If you’ve made the same errors over and over again, then perhaps you need to take a long, hard look at your life and realize that you’re doing something wrong.

This year, I not only went out with someone I wouldn’t typically date — A Republican farm boy with a thing for Sarah Palin — but I gave a relationship I thought would work a serious chance. I was patient, I was strong and I was adult (a word that I’d never typically apply to myself). The only regret I have is that he wasn’t ready to be the partner I need.

On that note, I believe I’m finally ready for the right man, and that I won’t be swayed by the wrong ones, or pretty boys, or fleeting temptations, even, in 2012. After an entire year of personal growth and clarity, I finally know what I want, what I need and what I’m looking for.

Are you ready, world? Because the only resolution I have this year is to be open to love. There’s no holding back.

I will not have regrets. I will find love.