Ready for 2023?

My 2022 was pretty great, even with a couple of life-changing events that weren’t so pleasant. Every year has its ups and downs, with some having ups that are more significant than previous years, and some having downs that are more significant than anything afore experienced. That’s life, isn’t it? I’ve mentioned this before I think, but one brilliant piece of advice I give readily, even to myself, is that bad times don’t last…and neither do good ones. It’s just an up and down ride, this thing we refer to as a life, and we have to know how to weather high and low points. And yes, it’s important to navigate the highs as well as the lows.

It’s sorta like winning with grace, isn’t it? One of my favorite bosses, early in my administrative career, gave me some words of wisdom I’ve never forgotten. I had just worked a junior varsity basketball game (9th graders) as a new Assistant Principal, and man oh man did a couple of parents act a fool. My dad was a coach, and I was an athlete, so attending competitive sporting events wasn’t new to me, but addressing a grown man for screaming at a 14 year old girl was. Afterwards, while I was licking my wounds (I won the round but not without having a few chunks, metaphorically, taken out by the man’s viciousness), my boss handed me a soda and said, profoundly, “You know Amy, in my experience, competition doesn’t build character so much as it reveals it.” I find that to be true, unfortunately. I could say the same thing about stressful situations. Adversity only builds character if we make it so. Left to our own devices and natural responses, it can unveil sides of ourselves we’d rather not see. No one wants to see.

But what about good fortune? When things are going well, are we kind, humble, paying it forward? We could apply this same logic to folks who come into a fortune, or get a big promotion, find their true love, etc, etc, etc. Are their high points benefitting anyone or are they just revealing character we wish we could unsee? How we handle our good times is just as important as how we handle our bad ones.

While we’re working on developing our own skills of managing the highs and lows of life with grace, we pay it forward by teaching them to our children, to our students, to our partners, to our colleagues, and to strangers. We model behavior we want to see. We treat others with respect and honor and forgiveness…when we’re low, and when we’re riding high.

It’s not a new year’s resolution, but an observation of how we can honor others and most of all ourselves by working on how we think and how our thinking informs our behavior. Honing our skills. I

t’s going to be a great 2023!

Enjoy your weekend brew, ya’ll, and raise your mug to a new year, new beginning, and carrying-on of all things bright beautiful from years before.

Cheers!