This is a special episode of Mondays with Mike, I’m here to wish you a Happy New Year!
Let me just say something – if there was ever a time when we were ready for a year to end, this is it. By the time you see or read this, I’m very hopeful that there will be more hope for a better 2021 than a 2020…
Remember back at the end of 2019, we did New Year’s Resolutions, or whatever we did, and we said things like “Oh I can’t wait for 2019 to end!” or “2020, the year of perfect vision. Bring on 2020!” I don’t know about you, but I for one think 2019 deserves an apology.
So, I’m not going to make any grandiose predictions about next year, I’m not going to say “Create great goals, Big Hairy Audacious Goals, create stretch goals, be positive!” I’m not going to say any of that. All I’m going to say is this:
As the year wraps up, and as you do whatever you do on New Year’s Eve (I usually have a nice dinner and go to bed by 8 or 9 o’clock, but that probably speaks to my age) can you find a place where you can be still and find a scarlet thread of gratitude in 2020?
On March 12 I did my last keynote address in Las Vegas before they closed Las Vegas down, and I remember pulling out of town and saying “It depends on how long this lasts, some of us are more battered than others, some (few) are unscathed.” But I want you to remember this – we are all in the same storm, but we’re not all in the same boat. There are people around you in very different boats than you, there are people near you in very different boats. So however you navigated this storm, there is no shame in it. I don’t want you to dwell on the mistakes, the difficulties, the challenges. What I want you to do is to start thinking about that scarlet thread of gratitude. I will tell you, right here in my studio I have a chair that I sit in during my quiet time in the mornings, and I contemplate the blessings and the gratitude that I need to dwell on. Invariably, with enough work and enough struggle, we can all think of something.
So, I want to wish you a happy and blessed New Year. With whatever comes next may you be equipped to deal with it in the way that you best see fit. May you be able to find your way with the support of people that you care about and that care about you, with the community that you’re involved in, whatever that is. I wish you the best opportunity to navigate successfully your life, your work, your family, your friends, and your colleagues to create in 2021 a continuing journey in this thing we call life.
Celebrate where you can, be grateful, and I will look forward to seeing you on the other side in 2021. Take care, and Happy New Year.
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