The Gift of 2015

This is the last month in the year. So much has happened and many moves have been made. Now it's time to sit back and reflect on the year.

What events were successful? Did you start a business, and what strides did you make? What were your failures? What changes are you looking to make in 2016?

In reflection, don't forget the gift that you received in 2015. Every success and failure was a gift. See each success as giving you more gumption to move forward and be creative. Take account that your failures educated you, and gave you the opportunity to explore new ways to improve yourself. Sometimes we can get so caught up in the budgets, the guest lists, the decorations, venues, and forget the lessons we learned and how we grew from amateur to professional.

Don't miss the gift in looking at how much money you made - or didn't make. Take into account each client that failed to pay, each vendor that supplied the wrong items, and each cake that was delivered to the wrong address. Take note on how each success and failure fit into what your goals were for 2015, and how they will improve 2016 or just plain need to be discarded.

The end of the year is reflection time. Look at the good and what you think was the bad. Every experience has a gift attached. All of them teach you something about yourself that you didn't know before, and opens a level of creativity that you never knew existed. So, as you celebrate your wins, don't miss the gift in it all.