Congrats.You've survived the first week of 2017.

For as long as I can remember, each year I’ve longed for perfection. I come up with certain notions in my mind and tell myself that I won’t be happy—can’t be happy—until they are fulfilled. Once this one specific item is checked off my never ending list of things that I must accomplish comes true, then and only then will I be happy. It’s funny that life doesn’t work out that way, does it?

You can’t put it on pause and wait until everything falls perfectly together because I can guarantee you that most often than not, it won’t work out that way. If I look back at my life, I don’t think I can pinpoint even one exact moment when everything was perfect. That’s how life works, it’s filled with imperfections, flaws, and tragedies. It’s filled with love and lust and heartbreak and sadness but when you put it all together it's a beautiful and magical thing that we must not take for granted. We can’t sit around surrounded by a dark cloud of negativity because life doesn’t stop for anyone, and when you finally decide to wake up, you might notice that it has passed you by in vain.

When you wake up every morning do you like what you see? Are you living your life the way you imagined it to be? If not, then what are you waiting for? As cliche as it sounds, life is too short to be living with doubts, regrets, and self-pity. It’s too short to settle for anything less than extraordinary.

So I encourage everyone, including myself, to take a deep breath and set no limitations this year.

Let 2017 be the year you accept yourself for who you are. Accept your flaws, and learn to love your imperfections. After all, they are what makes you who you are, and there is no one else like you in this entire universe.

Let 2017 be the year you stop caring what everyone else thinks of you. Do what you want. Love who you want to love. Change your career. Lose that extra 10 pounds. But do it for yourself and yourself only. Its time to stop trying to impress other people and start focusing on you.

Let 2017 be the year you learn to let go. Let go of toxic relationships. Let go of hatred, of negativity, of false hopes. Let it be the year your heart is lighter because you chose to wash away any and all regrets that you were holding on to.The past is in the past. It’s time to move on now.

Let 2017 be the year you learn how to love yourself. Eliminate self-hatred from your life. Get rid of the negative talk telling you that you’re not good enough. Let go of your body insecurities and learn to see the beauty within yourself that everyone else sees.

Let 2017 be the year you take a leap of faith. Have courage. Do something you’ve never done before and don’t hesitate. Live in the moment. Sleep under the stars. Travel. Scream at the top of your lungs. Cry. Laugh. And accept the inevitability of mistakes and failures. Fill your heart with love and I guarantee that at the end of the year you can say you’ve truly lived this 2017.