Welcome to the final post of 2014. In all the flurry of year-end activity, there is a lot that I want to express. As I write out my notes and cards to friends, family, clients and colleagues, I often challenge myself to identify a theme for my year. This year my words are “appreciation” and “acceptance.”
As the year draws to a close, I truly express appreciation; for others and for myself.
I review all that was done, even when it didn’t feel like it was “enough.” I review what is yet undone and re-calibrate. Is it still important? Should I carry it forward to next year, or let it go? So often we forget to take time to celebrate what we have done; those courageous moves we made and those ways in which we shied away from our own power. The end of the year is an ideal time to look at your year through the lens of appreciation. Be appreciative of it all; the highs and the lows, because there was learning in all of it.
I am grateful for all that I received; the new clients, partnerships and business opportunities; the new friendships I made and the current ones that were deepened. I am grateful for my wellness and that of my loved ones. I am grateful for having lived another year, doing work that I love, and serving clients who value it.
I am grateful for the joy of discovering that whether things went as I hoped or whether they did not, I learned either way that my happiness did not depend on my getting what I thought I wanted…..
The photo below was taken in a restaurant in Kansas City that my clients introduced me to while we were working together. I plan to spend more and more of my time in the space of gratitude; virtually or in-person. Gratitude for all of life’s lessons as a leader can make your year one of your best. It has for me.
