Happy New Year!
Its been awhile since my last post, but as I’ve finally recovered from the busyness and fun from the holidays I have some time to sit down and write. I’ve had a busy few weeks, which has brought me from East Coast to West Coast (and even a little of the south) but I am finally back to the Northeast and in the cold and the snow. Somehow, it just feels like home!
Like many of us, I went home for the holidays and was able to spend some time with my family. Each Christmas, we always host the party and we have our friends and families come over to celebrate, laugh and enjoy the company of one another. I couldn’t help but be filled with joy and excitement throughout the holidays, moreso than I had in the past. I was reflecting on this one day and I realized that I think this was one of the first holidays in a long time where I didn’t have any other things to distract me from really being present to the moment. In college, I was constantly distracted during the holidays thinking about what my friends where doing, when I was returning to school, trips I was taking over the break that I sometimes took the time I had with my family for granted. Fortunately that was not the case this year, and I throughly enjoyed spending all my time with family and friends relaxing and enjoying the time we had together.
I think its easy when we are young to sometimes lose sight, and to not “see the forest through the trees.” We sometimes get so wrapped up in what keeps us busy as well as the many things on the horizon that we forget what is in front of us. In this situation, all those other great experiences and opportunities that college afforded me sometimes made me take for granted the time I had with my family when I would come home for the holidays. Thinking about this made me realize the importance of family to me in my life. It truly is one of the things that I value most, and something that I want to hold close to me and to always make a priority. We all have values and priorities. Family, Friends, career, volunteering, what have you- we all have them. It can be easy to lose sight of them, but those things that are central to us hopefully always keep us focused and on track in our lives.
Last week I was talking to a friend about what we thought our career paths would look like. While neither of us couldn’t guarantee what we would be doing, where we would be living or what job titles we would have, we both agreed that it wasn’t so much about what we were doing, but if what we were doing would enable us to keep close those values and priorities that are important to us. It got me thinking again about what my priorities were, and if I how I was living made it clear what those values were.
So, with that in mind, I did the following, and urge you to do the same.
– Think about your values and priorities, and write them down
– Put examples of things that you are doing that demonstrate you hold those values close to you
– Where there are gaps, think of ways to demonstrate that those values are important to you
– Go out and do them!
The last thing I would say is that if you feel comfortable, tell a friend to help you hold yourself accountable. Some of us are better at holding ourselves accountable, so you don’t need to do this if you feel comfortable you can on your own, but sometimes having a close friend keep us honest doesn’t hurt.
As for me? I don’t know the path my life will take, but I know these things are central to my life. Family, friends, love, faith, and helping others. Some days I am good at holding those true, other days I struggle a bit, but I know the longer and harder I work at it, the happier I will be with my life.
A Digital Mentor 