We are nearly to the end of another year, and it’s really busy, as in my country, anyway, we are very excited about celebrating Christmas. There are Christmas parties, Christmas cookies, Christmas movies, Christmas Advent calendars, Christmas stockings to fill and Christmas presents to wrap in Christmas paper and put under the Christmas tree…
However, as with anything that is immersive, even if you love everything about it, it can be all-consuming, if not overwhelming.
If you are in a place that is, as we say here, gung-ho for Christmas, are you taking care of yourself? Able to pause and enjoy the simple beauties around you? If not, I suggest you take a moment. And yes, you may have to take that moment!
Looking Back To Move Forward
However, I not only want to mention the present moment, but also the looking back. The beauty of a new year (and many cultures around the world will be celebrating a new calendar year shortly), is a gift-the ability to pause in time, while we are in time, and just measure. To look and reflect.
My reflecting this year has taken a slightly different form, and I wanted to share it with you!
Sometimes we just look at pictures, photos, and memes of the year. Sometimes we chat about it. Sometimes we just don’t pay any attention. But this year, there are three areas I feel strongly that I am feeling compelled to examine, and I wanted to share this with you. I find that we often benefit from other people’s perspectives. Perhaps you’ve looked back over the year before, but here is a new set of criteria to help you to see your life with fresh eyes! So, here we go!
1. What Have I Not Finished?
I think that this is an excellent question for those of us who don’t pay as well attention to finishing. Now, you may be able to skip this one, if you’re an innate finisher, and if it just irritates you to leave anything undone.
I, alas, am not one of those. I have to make myself remember what I started and, while I rather wish I’d planned this sooner, at least I can calculate time remaining and give myself a portion of early next year to finish the rest. I’ve got some unread books; some unlistened-to courses and podcasts; some unfinished organization projects. And, I am working on becoming a really good finisher. One who has no loose ends to tie up, and therefore, I can’t trip over them!
Here is my list of possible areas you may need to look at, if you’d like to practice being a finisher:
Places To Finish At The End Of The Year
- Books read
- Podcasts listened to
- Articles read
- Areas of the home organized
- Clothing and/or toys to be sorted and some donated
- Yearly house cleaning/maintenance to be done
- Car maintenance to be done
- Insurance policies to be renewed, updated, or changed
- Anything that comes in regularly to be sorted and kept or tossed; papers and emails!
- Courses purchased (a high percentage of people never complete!)
- Tasks started (apply to job or school; write a book; start a hobby
- And so much more!
Do any of these stand out to you? If so, you may want to take a moment and just list those thing out. As you check them off, you’ll probably gain some momentum, as you see yourself really accomplishing something you had set out to do long ago!
2. What have I accomplished?
There are definitely some things I set out to do this year and made it, and some other things that are just going to have to keep getting worked on. Instead of getting stuck thinking about what I didn’t do, I want to make a comprehensive list, going month by month, and just looking at what I really did. I know there’s a lot, but it can be easy to forget all I did do, in the focus on getting the next thing done.
There’s something just so grand about looking back and appreciating the effort you put into areas of your life and seeing them really pay off. It’s invigorating, and helps you to tackle the next thing!
So I challenge you. What did you do, or do well, or be brave at (thank you, Jon Acuff!) this year? It’s worth it to reflect on and take some advice from the past. Did anything take you longer or shorter than you expected? Did you encounter some roadblocks, rough terrain, or detours? Maybe in the larger picture of the journey, those things can shrink back down to what they are: mere setbacks, not The End.
Pick it back up and keep going, and do please celebrate the wonderful things you did this year!
3. Take It Slow
Something about this year’s Christmas seems to me to have more pressure around it than maybe ever before. It’s like you have to be extra, extra, extra intentional about stopping. You may not be in that particular season at the moment, but if you are, just know, I’m right there with you!
As a result, I’m really closely monitoring how I engage, how long, and whether I’ve stopped lately. It might slow some things down. You may not see all the blog posts here that I wish I could do. You know what? In the end, I think the better choice is the slower one. After all, at what price does hectic come at, anyway? Long term health? Lower quality relationships? Less time to serve and give? I don’t know exactly, but I suspect “all of the above” is the multiple-choice answer here.
So, my plan for myself and my advice to you is: look back and finish what you started. Appreciate all that you did do and achieve. And this holiday season, take it slow. Enjoy and savor. I hope you do, too, and when we see each other next year, may we be more ready than ever, better able to tackle its challenges, and with deeper, more meaningful relationships. Maybe this December could be done not just good, and not just done, but done well.