Life is weird. I’m in the midst of my 4th quarterlife crisis (do I get a prize?) and everything that I knew to be true seems to be falling out from under me.

As a result, I kind of backed off from life – took a step back from the usual attack mode I prefer – and I stopped making mistakes. I’ve been living in the backseat, and getting a little arrogant.

Well good Lord Almighty, nothing takes you down a few pegs like a bad drunken night. But what it also did was allow me to get my priorities straight.

The Sunday after the Fourth I sat in my misery, worked through my problems, configured my goals and my obstacles, gave myself a pep talk, and watched a little Amy Schumer stand up. (Seriously she kills me. my idol.)

Then, yesterday out of the blue one of my favorite ladies, one whom I so admire for always going after her goals, needed the same pep talk I gave myself.

What I’m trying to say here before autocorrect got in the way is that I don’t want to be perfect. I want to live and experience and love and suffer. I don’t even want to pretend like I’m perfect. I don’t want to spend my years sitting in the backseat. How else am I to turn into a worthwhile person who can love and care about other imperfect beings? And nothing else teaches us not to judge like failing ourselves.

So now I’m taking life by the horns again, listing my goals, making a plan, and going after what I want. Imperfectly. Messily. But with passion and kindness.