Reflections on a year
Rather than sit down and create New Year’s resolutions, my annual tradition involves a different approach. I open a fresh document, and tackle three fundamental questions: 1) What went well this year? 2) What didn’t go well this year? 3) What did I learn? These three questions are enough to get my thoughts rolling about the year. From these reflections, I can begin to sow seeds for the upcoming year. While day-to-day progress might not be evident, I can see improvement year over year. The act of writing down these reflections is important. For me, it’s the light that illuminates an otherwise dimmed path ahead.
As I sit and write this, my two year old is crying next door about going to sleep. Although I know he is fine, my heart aches to hear any of my kids be “in distress” (the quotes are necessary because he is 2 and he can move things to the dramatic quite quickly). I have worked on the same sentence now for ten minutes. But isn’t that the essence of life? Plans can quickly veer off course unless you are determined to stick with it. And even then, it’s likely to take much longer than originally conceived.
The thought of extending a deadline or moving a timeline out has always been cringey to me. Now I welcome a crawling pace. What’s the point in getting to the finish line if you didn’t enjoy the race along the way?
Did you know that Van Gogh only sold one painting in his own lifetime? Like many, he only achieved fame much after his lifetime. He barely had two pennies to rub together when he was alive, despite his paintings being worth millions now. I doubt he would have cared about his resume, after all, he went through many iterations and failures before he achieved his most prolific work.
This is the year I am going to throw myself into creative pursuits with reckless abandon. I’ll be bringing you and my kids along for the ride. I’m going to change things up a bit. You will have to keep reading in the upcoming weeks to learn more.
Catch you in 2024. Until then, be safe and be well.