Taking time to reflect on the positives of this past year can definitely add some to balance to the lopsided statistics of a year that can easily be viewed as grim.
For starters, I have fully recovered from a serious cycling accident that broke my tibia and fibula into many pieces. From this amazing recovery, in 2009 I have been able to; fit my foot back into my ski boot and, successfully completing a series of “Bump Buster” mogul classes at Copper Mountain ski resort; complete my first duathlon; hike my eleventh 14’er – Mt Princeton; and a sundry of other fun activities without any pain that an Advil or two couldn’t fix!
I even proved that mature minds over 50 (the adjective older has been stricken from my vocabulary in this situation!) can learn under pressure at higher institutions of learning. While employing the 4-finger typing method, I could still produce 20-30 page papers within the assigned deadline. Not only did these 4 fingers gradually fly faster over the keys, but writing papers became easier.
I was forced to reinvent myself. Now this wasn’t obviously easy or initially fun. It did take time discovering my other capabilities, interests, and passions, but how often does one really have the opportunity to step back and recreate one’s direction within the work environment. In many respects I had a plethora of identities and occupations to select from. How cool is that! In this process, I discovered a whole new group of friends. I found out viral marketing was not a derivative of the swine flu and Meetup groups were not therapy self-help groups! I found a whole new world.
I also found long lost family and friends and for that my world is definitely richer. As the baby boomers took over FaceBook, I jumped into the fray too. However, even that was not without a calamity. I went through the humiliation of discovering that FB had somehow invited EVERYONE in my address book to be my new best friend, including my ex’s attorney! Boy, I bet that went over well! With over 1200 email addresses, all I could do was laugh and wait to see what damage I had caused.
I learned all kinds of new budget tricks. My favorite was to invite friends to the Costco stalls for lunch.
Ben Bernanke, the media and gas prices are already indicating a better year ahead for us and that is significantly better than what most of us were looking at this lime last year! Thank you 2009, for teaching me so many new things and reconnecting with many old friends!
Today’s recommended resources:
Do you make New Year’s resolutions? I used to, but then it dawned on me that in reality all my New Year’s resolutions were goals that I should have been practicing throughout the year. Goals that somehow I had allowed normal every day harried life to push aside. But wait a minute, aren’t most of these daily life events something I do have some control over? I am responsible with regard to how much craziness I allow into my life. The superwoman image is so overrated and at such a sacrifice to my sanity! And before I lose it totally, maintaining my sanity is definitely number one on my list.
This year I have decided to discard any resolutions and instead focus on what is really important in each day. This includes not overreacting to short-fused demands, lost keys, traffic jams and other idiosyncrasies that consume today’s life. Ever notice any irony in the words “short-fuse”? The shorter the fuse the longer it always seems to take to resolve. However, aside from the wise cracks, there is one tool that has served me well throughout the years. As soon as an event even slightly raises my blood pressure, ire, or goes directly to press one of my hot buttons I ask myself “How important is this one week from today? Will it be of any consequence in a month from today? Will I even remember this trigger/event in 3 or 6 months from now”?
Just asking these questions at the first hint of trouble has really made a significant impact on how I view such instances. I can honestly say that since utilizing this strategy there have been very few incidents or events that met the test of all three questions. Instead I have discovered that I can calmly accept a much wider range of spontaneous demands, allowing many to fall by the wayside, and discovering that the world doesn’t fall apart yet. I have found more time to accomplish what is most important to me, and aside from lower blood pressure, I not suffered any social consequences from my failure to participate in the hype of immediacy and craziness.
What are your techniques for adapting to sudden time demands?
Resources and other links: Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff – Thought of the Day
CaroleLitten.com
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