December is known as the best and also most stressful month of the year. It’s the highest and the lowest season for a lot of people.
Historically, it’s been a month that highlighted my relationship with procrastination. With its deadlines and events and end of year needs for both tasks and people – I didn’t always get the hoped for “peace” we all aspire to this month.
AND – one of the most important parts of December is the fact that it’s an end.
We have an amazing opportunity when we come to the end – of anything – especially a year.
Ideally we reflect, as painful as that process can feel. It’s slow, and it requires wonder and introspection for the sake of clarity. We want what it gives us, we just don’t want to go through the process. I get it. I want speed and results and to feel the adrenaline moving through my body. But over time, we get way out of balance. The adrenaline can sabotage our systems and we’re laid out with no effort to be offered.
Over the years – because of this work and this community – I’ve learned how to do this season differently. I’ve been inspired year after year by our content, clients, and conversations, to create different intentions, mindsets, and systems that mean everything in a season as full as this one.
I’m still moving fast, but I am experiencing a space and peace I haven’t felt before.
We’re talking a lot about reflection in our circles and one of the things we’re asking ourselves has become one of my favorites:
What are you proud of this year?
A lot of people get uncomfortable when they consider it. They don’t want to name what they’ve done well because it might mean they’ll miss what needs to be fixed.
The fact is that the answer to this question is a compass for us. It helps create data for what matters and what we want to take into a new year. Without this process, we do the same thing over and over again expecting different results. No one would willingly choose this, and yet somehow we do.
I hope you ask this question. And some others. I hope you can stop long enough to answer them before you launch into another year with goals that aren’t based on what YOU really want to see more of in your world.
I hope you take some space for this.
In the spirit of spaciousness, our team will be off the week of Christmas and New Year’s.
It’s a practice we’ve always had at Interleap and IF the option is available to you, I hope you feel some permission to take the space, yourselves. It’s where magic happens if you’ll allow it.
Before I sign off for 2025, I want to offer a few of my favorite conversations recently. In case you need some input to ground yourself and prepare for holidays – the best of them AND the hard.
This was such a powerful conversation between pastor and leadership expert Andy Stanley, and chaplain and organizational expert Steve Cuss. It’s a conversation about how to navigate and lead yourself during the holidays. Whether you have a faith lens or not, this is compelling.
This somewhat related conversation with Diary of a CEO’s Steven Bartlett and one of my favorite neurologists, Lisa Feldman – on what anxiety really is. She reframes anxiety not as something that happens to us, but as our brain’s attempt to make sense of the moment. Every experience is shaped by what we sense now and what we remember – our body and brain working together to interpret what we feel. It was another mind blowing concept for me and I can only imagine how many people may be gifted by a reframe on this topic – especially in a season where there can be so much of it.
Both of these conversations are centered around the idea that we are “meaning makers” – and what meaning we make up means everything to where we’re headed. It’s a critical concept that’s life changing if we’re willing to take a look.
We get one shot a year at the end of the year. I hope you take the time to honor it. For yourself. For your people. For your faith, whatever that is. There’s so much to learn from how we feel right now, and from how we choose to move through these next two weeks.
Reflection takes time, space, and presence. But it’s always worth it. And in my experience, taking the time to be present is never something we regret.
Wishing you a wonderful holiday!!