Yearly Recalibrations

When we look at our life one day at a time, it doesn’t often seem like we are progressing or making any significant change. However, when you take the time to relax and reflect, even once at the end of each year, the changes that have taken place over the previous year start to become fairly dramatic. 

For those who know me, I strongly prioritize planning, developing task lists, and goal setting.  It is not so much that I seek to accomplish everything on a list but a recalibration on the direction I want to head.  As I sit here in my hometown of Port Angeles, WA with an abundance of time on my hands, surrounded by lifelong mentors, I find myself reflecting on the past and thinking through how to best recalibrate myself for the year to come. 

What I will not do this upcoming year is completely transform my schedule or my lifestyle.  Over the years, I’ve slowly started chipping away and refining each area of my life in the hopes that each December, as I look back, I will see the small incremental steps of growth in my character and ability.  I don’t need to start all over.  I just need to recalibrate my mind, body and spirit, tuning up the areas that I’ve neglected or haven’t made a priority yet in my growth.  This attitude towards the upcoming year feels encouraging to me. 

Wherever you might be in your life, and regardless of what circumstances you are in, focus on the positive points. Pinpoint a few areas where you would like to make noticeable change in the upcoming year. Develop a simple and exciting plan of action to initiate those changes.  Then slowly, day by day, incorporate this shift in your lifestyle.  Each day won’t seem like a significant change, but sure enough when next December rolls around and you are reflecting on the past year, I bet the changes you have achieved demonstrate more growth than you imagined.