pat loughery

For many years, I have started a new journal/commonplace book when the New Year starts. And I’ll usually kick off the January section with the first couple of paragraphs from this lovely wish from Neil Gaiman.

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.

I love the invitation to DO SOMETHING, which helps me in whatever work I’m doing – sketching, gardening, writing, parenting, etc.

Neil quoted this at his blog, in a post about various New Year’s Blessings.

Worth noting: News surfaced this last year that several women have accused Gaiman of sexual assault, and reading into some of the accusations, these actions are violent, dark and horrific. There’s a bigger conversation needed about how we connect a creator’s actions and what they create; it’s part of why I plan to read Claire Dederer’s book Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma.