Introduction:
Traveled nine months this past year; winter in Mexico, summer in Alaska, fall in Maritime Canada. Downtime to visit family and friends for the winter holly-daze.
Endpoints:
Highlight was traveling through Alaska and Newfoundland. Appreciated twenty hours of daylight; easy to be productive, getting out of bed at sunrise. Appreciated staying at hostels and sharing time with other travelers. Appreciated the freedom to travel with my own car.
Low point was traveling in Mexico. Stayed at AirBnB to remain healthy during the pandemic; sense of isolation was discouraging. Wrote S is for Suicide; it’s dark, but not un-true. Lacked independence traveling on bus. It was difficult to communicate; I speak Spanish like a child (yo hablo español como un niño). Took time to settle in to the rhythm of long-term travel.
Professional:
Remained busy this past year with various professional engagements. Work pro-bono; intention is to provide value before extracting value. Perhaps the intention is to give, and not take. Perhaps I work pro-bono because my work is of little value, not valued by others, or, not effective at extracting value. Alternatively, provide my services for free, because few could afford to pay $500 per hour. I will donate, but not discount my services.
I want to contribute, and be involved, but I don’t want to be a full-time employee, getting dragged into day-to-day operations. I don’t enjoy sitting in front of my computer all day. I find that people are difficult; is it not Sartre who suggested that “hell is other people.”
I helped a graduate school classmate buy and acquire a small business. I offered career coaching, and helped four people land new professional roles. I’ve also been working with a colleague to build out the back office capability for his private equity firm.
Headlines:
News headlines this year focused on war in Ukraine, the mid-term vote in the United States, and the Federal Reserve taking steps to mitigate inflation in the United States. After three years, headlines have slowly drifted away from the pandemic.
When I travel, I usually check the news headlines once a day, to ensure that I’m aware of anything critical, that could merit action; for example, to ensure that the planet hasn’t exploded. I find that when I’m not traveling, it’s too easy to endlessly check news throughout the day – news junkie – which adds little value or insight; less news, more noise. At times, I’ll go on a news fast, and not check headlines at all. At other times, I read the headlines, but not the article content.
Change:
As I look ahead to the New Year, my intention is to reflect on change, to reflect on my intentions for the New Year. When I worked, and went on vacation, would often use the start – stop – continue exercise, by asking three questions:
Q1: what do I want to start doing, that I haven’t done before
Q2: what do I want to stop doing, that isn’t working
Q3: what do I want to continue doing, that is working
I’m a creature of habit, and it’s all too easy to maintain the same behavior patterns. I am lazy when I am not traveling, due to comfort of living in the United States and speaking English. I find that it’s easier to challenge behavior patterns when I’m traveling overseas, because the constantly changing environment requires that I change and adapt.
Conclusion:
There is often great focus on the New Year, and it’s certainly a valuable opportunity for reflection. In fairness, every day is an opportunity to re-invent oneself, not just the New Year.
There is often focus on resolutions, and pundits who note how quickly resolutions fade away. Perhaps this is why I prefer intentions over resolutions. Despite my best intentions, a resolution may not manifest itself. Perhaps, over a period of time, I decide to modify my intentions, change is okay.
Was it a good year or a bad year. It’s possible that the words “good” or “bad” imply judgment. I could suggest that 2022 was just another year. Happy. New. Year.
garthmonroe 