People are Nice.

So, I don't write one of those "look at everything wise and important I've been learning about the world" blogs. Mainly because I don't learn anything that wise and important on a regular basis. Maybe I'm a natural cynic or just not paying that close of attention, but I'm not having epiphanies every other day.

But something happened to me last week that made me have (what her highness Oprah would call) an A-ha Moment.

My friend and I got into it a little bit in a planning meeting. He was unhappy with something we were doing that was completely my idea. He said some things about the format (again, that I came up with and have been executing for several months now) that were not very flattering. Like, he said it was lame and boring.

Part of me wanted to be mad and defensive, but this guy's actually a really good friend of mine. And I know him pretty well. We've worked through our share of times where our big mouths got the best of us. So, I knew what he was wanting to convey. I knew he wasn't attacking me, he was trying to make suggestions so that the whole group of us could do things better. He was trying to be inspiring and was just completely missing it with me because he was accidentally insulting me.

So I wasn't upset. I know him.

After the meeting, he pulled me aside and apologized for what he said. He had realized through the course of the meeting that the ideas he was shooting down were all mine and that it probably wasn't the most sensitive way to say/go about things.

He was trying to justify himself and apologize when I cut him off to say the following sentences:

"Hey, don't worry about it. Seriously. I wasn't offended. You probably could've said that a little nicer, but I know you, I know you weren't trying to insult me."

The look on his face when I said that was like I had just given him a $1,000. He high-fived me. It was like a moment of accomplishment for him, that he didn't have to spend more moments of his life explaining how what he said was well-intentioned if insensitive, but instead I just got that.

I just understood that he's a good guy with a good heart who cares about people. And that sometimes his words come out wrong.

He was seriously thrilled with that.

And I realized how desperate we all are for that. I get myself into that situation a lot. I don't have a filter and I'm confident enough to want to speak my mind all the time. Some good things come out of that.

What doesn't often come out of that is people seeing that I care. But I do. A lot. I care about people and I try really hard to care for people. And sometimes when people think that I'm rude or bitchy, it just makes me lonely. Like people clearly just don't understand me.

And when someone can look past the insensitive thing I said or did and remember my heart and my goodness, it makes me feel really loved.

So I'm going to continue to try to do that for my friends. I'm going to choose to always remember how good they are, how much they want to love people well, how much they care.

Wouldn't that be awesome if we all did that for each other? I know I would spend a lot more time feeling good about myself. And I would spend a lot more time feeling good about my friends.

I want people to be free and confident and feel good. I'm going to do my best to dole that out.

Disclaimer: I will likely fail hard at this. What are you gonna do?

Song of the Day: If I Ever Leave This World Alive by Flogging Molly

Alright, I Changed My Mind

I don't know what it is, but I feel really good about 2012.

I've never really seen New Year's Eve as a holiday and I think resolutions are usually just a way to set yourself up to feel bad about yourself, so I don't get all that excited about the start of a new year. It's just a normal passage of time, right?

But other people love New Year's. It's all over the place: blog posts about resolutions, topics of conversation. Everyone has asked me, "What's your new year's resolution?"

Normally, I kind of roll my eyes at this, but this year for the first time, I think I get it.

It's a new year. New. A time to start over, a time to say I can be whatever I want to be.

It's hopeful.

And hopeful is always a good place to be in.

If you read my blog, then you know I talk a lot about how much I love my life. And that's true. But I'm also 26 and I get scared a lot. I'm never quite sure if this is where I'm supposed to be. I worry that I'm going to screw my life up. That somehow I'm going to make some decision that puts the rest of my life on a crap-spiral into nothing.

That's not hopeful.

In fact, that's kind of pitiful.

So, mid-twenties, I find the New Year's hype comforting. Because it's an excuse to believe that even if I don't quite have it together right now, this year I can get there. And if I don't, there's another year after that (well, if the Mayans are wrong).

And that's worth some fireworks.

Let's do this, 2012.

Song of the Day: The Girl by City and Color

Benny the Bachelor Takes on the Crazies (Ep. 1)

You know what today is?

It's one of my favorite days of the year, a time to renew hope and joy.

That's right, the Bachelor's back!

And it's starring Ben F., fresh off a rough rejection by Ashley. (Dodged a bullet there, Ben.)

The opening vignette shows Ben in all his goofy, wine-making, kayaking, piano-playing glory and it reaffirms how much I like him, despite his choice of neon tank top and badly staged dramatic posing.

Also returning to my TV screen: Chris Harrison, one of my favorite people in the world and someone I wish would hang out with me in real life (along with Jon Stewart).

The ladies appear with horses, shooting, creepy shots of watching Ben on the Bachelorette, catalogue modeling, sad-looking pregnant ladies with perky nurses, sob stories, a British girl in Scottsdale, a "blogger" who is clearly attempting to channel Carrie Bradshaw, the single mom, the divorcee, and so many cheesy limo exit strategies, I can't even begin to recount them.

I have to say, there were no real first impression winners to me. Normally, all it takes is the limo exits for me to know exactly who will win it, but really, they all sucked. Pretty bad.

But sucks at life equals awesome at cocktail parties and cat fights. Rapping, line dancing, blindfolds, push ups, delusional models talking too much, sweet grannies, crazy maniacal laughing, drunken crying, complete denial of drunken crying, and drunken crier talking to herself in the bathroom. Awesome.

Oh, yeah, and Lind-Z with the horse got the first impression rose. She sucks just as much as the rest of them.

Jenna the Blogger emerged from the bathroom just in time for the rose ceremony where the producers clearly made him keep both her and her nemesis, Monica. We also get to see more of the single mom, the grandma girl, the sweet young one from Tennesse, and many, many more. Some are crazy, some will be turned crazy by this process.

Ben told one of the girls she was a good hugger for which he has endeared himself to me until at least the next episode.

End of Episode 1 Top 3 Predictions: sweet Tennesee girl, PhD student, and Jamie who raised her siblings

Drama Predictions: High. Real high.

I. Love. This. Show.