Was it a great year? How do you know?
I don't usually look back over my year just ended or review any of its events. However, some people I follow on social media have been posting their process for reviewing their year.
James Clear (Atomic Habits) reviews his values and whether he has lived up to them.
Chris Bailey (Hyperfocus and How to Calm Your Mind) lists 20 accomplishments from the year and reviews his 'hotspots', his life domains like career, relationships, finances, fun etc. to see where his attention and energy have been spent.
The process is then used to create intentions for the year ahead.
Whatever process is used, it is about making the invisible visible.
I thought I would give it a go. What a revelation!
If anyone had asked me before I did this process, I would have said 2022 was stressful - lots of events and lots of angst.
Most of it came in the last few months of the year. We were planning a post-COVID family gathering of the clan, a beach holiday and Christmas. We hadn't been altogether for four years.
In the preceding three months, Townsville-based son secured a work promotion in the nation's capital Canberra, meaning he would be moving 3,000km south before Christmas. In the process of flying back and forth to this new job, he and his wife had to pack up their home of 10 years and prepare it for sale.
Also, during that time, they assisted their daughter through her 18th birthday and party, school formal, graduation and final high school exams. Then there was her university application to study commerce/law to submit.
At the same time, their son was doing final exams for his 4-year finance/economics degree at a university 2000km south of them and turning 21.
As usual, Grandma was always at the end of the phone to help granddaughter with last-minute study and soak up any family stresses of the moment, like when son missed his early morning Sunday flight south to work by 5 mins.
The plan, then, was to drive 2000 km to our place for a Uni graduation and a short Christmas break, settling daughter into her Brisbane university before heading south to their new empty nester lives with their Great Dane, Duke, squashed into the car with them.
My daughter's London-based family had just two weeks of reprieve from the cold for our family get-together and beach holiday.
90-year-old Dad was also joining us for Christmas.
What could possibly go wrong?
Let me tell you, I don't think I breathed for the whole month of December.
Our last two Summers of flooding and the potential to do it again this year could mean the Townsville family wouldn't be able to get here. (Actually, that dreaded weather and flooding are happening right now.)
December brought icy storms to the UK and threatened Heathrow departures.
Then there was COVID. Planning to have 90-year-old Dad with us was risky. We watched so many people around us succumb. A 24-hour flight could be just the incubation required to bring COVID with them.
The suspense continues...
A house full of guests, a London family eager to fill every second of their first time home in 4 years, catching up with extended family and old friends.
Family photos are taken to capture this precious moment in time.
An authentic Aussie Christmas lunch of seafood and champagne with 13 people and a well-behaved but enormous Great Dane chomping on his Christmas bones beside us.
An ambulance trip to the hospital for Dad during lunch after he hurts his very fragile back. Don't worry; he returns a couple of hours later, relieved of pain and ready to party!
Beach days, sunburnt English skin, cousins to catch up with, Summer barbeques and post-Christmas sales. It’s hectic.
Gradually and sadly, the family departs; son, daughter-in-law and dog drive south to their new empty-nester life. London crew safely on a flight home.
Dad is carefully delivered back home.
Granddaughter, Grandson and Girlfriend head off to their new life in a shared flat sans Mum and Dad, a smashing career ahead for one, and university studies for the girls.
We were blessed - a whirlwind fortnight of celebration, champagne, and connection.
The house is suddenly silent. I could sleep for a week, but Mr P decides it must be returned to its pre-Christmas state pronto, so the washing machine and vacuum cleaner work non-stop to return us to the peace and tranquillity of our empty nest life.
I decide to do my review of 2022. That process compels me to go back over the months and pull out the special events, moments and accomplishments.
We had a 90th birthday.
I had a 50-year school reunion, meeting people I hadn't seen since we walked out of the school gates in 1972.
Our family Christmas gathering celebrates some mighty milestones - executive promotions for my son and daughter, 16th, 18th and 21st birthdays of grandchildren, a university graduation and dream jobs, fabulous school results and university placement for Aussie granddaughter, and a prestigious Performing Arts college placement for the London-based 16-year-old granddaughter.
I recover from a knee injury to resume my fitness journey, wiser and willing to listen to my body.
I resume my writing journey.
I learn that what we focus on constructs our world.
Those stresses, strains, and hold-your-breath suspenseful family dramas viewed in hindsight are insignificant compared to the magical moments of real hugs.
I can also see where my attention naturally goes and what matters to me. It's FAMILY.
As they all settle into their new year, I savour 2022 with immense pride and feel immeasurable gratitude for a gathering that may not happen again for a long time.
Thanks to my annual review, the awesomeness of 2022 is locked in forever now.
"What we focus on constructs our world." Such an important reminder.
Love this. xx