With my personal year-end clarity review taken care of, I’ll spend the last weeks of the year with a different focus from the rest of the year. The pause I took to do my year-end review now leads into year-end action – those tasks and activities that let me enjoy the holidays feeling at ease with 2014 and allow me to enter 2015 ready for upward and onward. Less about tracking and completing and more about creating space, these activities are focused on my business, my family, and myself.
My primary business tasks involve tying up loose ends: client opportunities past, client opportunities present, and client opportunities future. I close any open loops with past prospective clients who haven’t made further contact. I touch base with current clients to complete this year’s projects. And I create space to support whatever next year holds for my growing team, my roster of amazing clients, and my as of yet unknown new clients.
This wrap-up task is a major and intentional act of self-care for me. As I check off, cross out, or archive all the hanging threads from this year, I’m clearing the clutter away from next year’s fresh sense of possibility. I’m giving myself the chance to start out asking “What will I do next?” and not “What do I still need to do?”
My main family activities involve directing my time and energy away from my desk and toward school concerts, community gatherings, and good old fashioned holiday parties. I happily embrace the warmth of connection (as well as the warmth of my Santa Hat!) during these short, chilly days and the only spreadsheets I spend time with involve Christmas card mailing lists and gifts for my nearest and dearest.
I’m “at work” less but, unsurprisingly, I’m doing more. My hands are rarely still – hanging Christmas lights just about everywhere, hiding the boys’ Santa Buddy (and wondering how many days before this mom’s elf on the shelf game is up!), bulk shopping to reduce trips out into the cold, and filling the freezer with meals for the months ahead. I also focus on donating my time, energy and money (as well as pre-wrapped gifts) where they’re most needed by others.
My core personal tasks revolve around humming Christmas tunes, enjoying the above-mentioned Santa Hat, and giving myself the freedom to truly hibernate. Nights are spent in our jammies in front of the fire, sending the kids to bed early and indulging in grown-up hot apple cider and our Netflix favorites. Balancing my drive to be doing things over the holidays with my love of cozy lazy family time gives me just the recharge I need.
Each and every day I am so grateful for everything I have – a thriving business I get to put on hold for a couple of weeks (blog break included!), a full pantry and fridge to sustain us through winter, and a family that means the world to me.
And with that, folks, I bid you all a safe and happy holiday and a joyous new year!
Image via Nikos Koutoulas.