Resolutions
It’s the last day of 2025 and my final commute of the year. My efforts this year were rewarded with one last colorful December sunrise, birdsong, and only slightly slushy streets.
Most years I like making myself a resolution and a mantra to get me through it. For my 2025 resolution I wanted to challenge myself and thought the perfect challenge would be to learn how to unicycle. So I dubbed 2025 the year of the unicycle! And I had a very strong start. I bought a unicycle and traveled across the country with it. The first few months I was dedicated to drills. But as the snow started melting and the bicycle became more available, the unicycle was much less enticing. It was also demoralizing to have spent so many hours with barely a pedal strike to show for it… So, now it’s December and I can say with full certainty that I failed my 2025 resolutions. But does that make me a failure?
That’s a good question. Because on one hand, YES, I failed. I said I would do something and then I didn’t. I did not have the resolve to follow through. The shame of not being able to accomplish something used to really bother me. The shame of not being the best, not knowing the answer, or the shame of just being incapable has been enough to keep me from getting out of the house. I know from experience that shame that comes from failure can make me resentful. That resentment can steal the joy from activities I love, even can lead me to unfounded comparisons between the people in my life I admire or the people on the internet I envy. In the past I have defined my own value on the fact that I failed. But this year I didn’t only fail at learning a one wheeled skill, I failed at so much more! And as cliche as it may sound, I’ve been working hard to view each failure as a lesson, not a mark on my character. Because my year is not defined by my failures!
I rode my bike farther than I ever have at the Slate Valley Epic, climbing 5,000ft and finishing all 40+ miles. Every week I gathered with the ladies to group ride through my local trail network, reinforcing connections with my community and welcoming new riders to Pine Hill. And there were (and still are) about a hundred of little projects throughout the bike shop that keep getting accomplished. If there was an opportunity to be challenged, I took it this year.
So did I fail at my 2025 resolutions? Yes. Am I a failure? NO! I look forward to many more failures and opportunities to grow in 2026. And maybe this year I’ll finally learn how to unicycle. What are you going to try (and potentially fail at) in 2026?
Paige
