Celebrate your year
As it comes to a close, let’s take a moment to reflect upon the year you’ve just experienced — 2022.
Mentally flip back in your mind, to where you were at the beginning of this year: What were you thinking about, feeling, and hoping for? Were you dealing with a specific challenge? Were you trying something new? How different is that person from the person you are today?
Slowly, now, time travel back to the present moment. Move from February to April to July to October to today.
As you mentally relive your year, pay attention first to all that you learned. It might have been something that you shared with the world, like a skill at work, a topic you mastered in school or college, or a hobby you picked up. It might have been an inner skill, that changed the way you feel on the inside, like learning how to set boundaries or speak up.
Now, think about all of the people you have loved. Let their faces and voices and hearts come to mind. Remember the birthdays, coffee chats, phone calls, silly text messages, and funny videos shared. Think back to the hugs, the laughter, and the compassion.
Finally, reflect upon how you contributed. You did so much. You probably don’t even realize how much you shared, gave, and offered. Remember how you showed up for your coworkers, how you listened to friends, how you reached out. Think about the art you made or the songs you sang in the car or the thoughts you shared or the work you delivered or the customers you made smile or the plants you watered or the food you dropped off. Those contributions, though they may feel small in the moment, add up to something so, so great. You, in your very unique way, made the world a better place in some way this year.
You deserve to celebrate these things. As you do, you might learn something important, too: this is what matters most to me. This s the impact I made.
And that new information can be used to change the way you decide you want to show up this year ahead of you. Learning, love and contribution: they’re all infinitely extensible. There’s always new ways to offer them.
All that you learned, loved, and contributed: it mattered. You made a difference this year. Carry that forward with you.
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