December 14, 2010
I wish the December holidays were in March or June or something. My problem is that December is the last month of the year and I have to finish all of the end-of-the-year stuff at the same time as thinking about the holidays.
I confess. I generally don’t get to the holiday part until it’s kind of late. This post is evidence that I am running a bit ahead of the curve this year. However it is no promise that I will do it right or even have my priorities completely in order.
For me, end of year stuff is 99% about being sure I have paid the bills and have a sense for how I will pay the bills next year. For me, and nearly everyone else, this is a bigger challenge this year and the last few years than it was in 2007 or earlier. That is a stark reality. Financial life in America is tougher now. So my attention and focus on paying the bills is a double killer this time of year. It begs me to give it even more time, and the time I do devote certainly does not put me in a holiday spirit when I consider the economy and what I know to be the dire straits of some folks I care about a lot but I am in no position to help.
So what do I do? What do we do? The best we can I suppose.
Behind me are literally piles of stuff I should finish. In front of me is the keyboard and this post. If you look at the dates to my posts here you can see this has not been a priority for my time lately even though I maintain encouraging community is the most important thing I am doing with my productive time. I’m saying that I am not practicing what I preach nearly as well nor as often as I would like.
I think the solution is to think of the holidays as lots and lots of moments. I will complete this post in under ten minutes. Ten minutes well spent. I am saying yes to momentary opportunities to advance the joy of the holidays. I think my wife Vicki would attest to that. I did more this weekend to prepare for the season. I enjoyed it. I always do. I liked the outcomes. It’s just that, before saying “Yes” to a moment, I have many more moments when I say I can’t afford to take the time.
Then it hit me…
It takes less time to say yes to a moment and do it than it does to think through whether I should or not.