Ready… Set… Slow Down!

While not one for New Year’s resolutions, I do like marking the transition from one calendar to another and from one business year to the next.  I also look forward to the changes that flow from season to season.

 

Aside from easy arithmetic, there is something about adding one to the last digit of the year.

 

I had big plans for hitting the ground running here in January of 2023…

 

Let me back up just a little.

 

I can’t speak for my entire family, but because we had done such a good job of staying healthy, I was beginning to think we might just be some of those special people the medical world is fascinated with.  You know, the ones able to weather the pandemic in squeaky-clean health.

 

Well, squeaky we got.  Clean, maybe.  Health, not so much.

 

As I mentioned in last week’s missive, the latest variant of that spiky SOB of a virus found its way through our front door and, in the spirit of an evil Goldilocks, found us all “just right.”

 

My son sailed through pretty quickly, returning to work as planned.

 

My wife and I have a different story to tell.  Were we basketball players, we might be proud of our rebound performance.  Let’s just say this one ain’t much to write home about.

 

And so it was that hitting the ground running transformed into hitting the bed napping.

 

Make no mistake, we’re grateful it wasn’t worse, and even more grateful our work allows us the flexibility to put our energies and attention on self-care.  That’s the stuff of privilege, and no small thing.

 

It’s also no small thing that my encounter has called me to walk my talk of awareness, patience, compassion, love and so much more.

 

I’d like to be able to tell you I was a model of equanimity that would have been the envy of the Dalai Lama himself.  That, of course, would be a load of BS.

 

Newsflash: I still have some work to do in the arena of acceptance.

 

My body was being clear that my job was to slow down, rest, and recover.  It’s likely this is going to be my job for several weeks.

 

Yes, with all the plans I have for 2023, there is indeed much to do.  But the work will still be there a few weeks from now.  If it matters as much as I think it does, it’ll still matter when my energy returns.

 

Despite the “protective” poison my ego wants to pour in my coffee, a few weeks of operating at a dialed-back pace is unlikely to make me irrelevant.

 

Besides, going to war with myself is very likely to be as boring as it’s ever been.  Not only that, it’s a sure way to add stress to any circumstance, and the outcome of the battle is a foregone conclusion.

 

So yeah, I’m putting my expectations aside, resetting the clock, and facing the facts here on the ground.  Finding, perhaps, a bit of the acceptance and equanimity I mentioned above.

 

While I have your attention, I invite you to have a look at how you deal with dashed expectations and foiled plans.