Approaching the end of the year, any year, is always a wake-up call. I was perusing some investment statements this weekend (yes, I am not as afraid to open them now), and I was thinking about the returns as if it were July or August and realized that in fact there is but one month to go. So it is with so many aspects of personal and business life. All the same, I think I can safely say that the challenges presented by 2009 required such close attention that time slithered by unnoticed. And many of us are eager to see the tail end of this year.
But not so fast one might say. I begin to hear and read stories, granted not the headlines, that tell of the positive experiences some have had over the last year. Parents re-connecting with their kids because they have to cut back on the all-consuming “extracurricular” activities. Families spending more time together at the dinner table when the restaurant budget was pruned. Even some who have suffered job loss and worse speak of personal enlightenment and even a sense of liberation as they chart a new course.
I certainly do not mean to gloss over the enormous hardships experienced by so many, but there are nevertheless new gardens growing where the storms ravaged the land. Much too much is made of the stock market and too little of the human story itself. Last night at our monthly NARI meeting, there was a wonderful turnout (in horrible weather) of our remodeling colleagues, and to the last person upbeat and forward-looking and committed. And this from a group who has seen their industry devastated by the recession.
To quote last night’s speaker quoting Goethe … “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.” The alternative is not so appealing, is it? Our 2010 commitments here at MOSAIC will be part dreams, part a new realization that we really can’t take much for granted. I not only wish all of you reading this a happy holiday season, but also the gift of insight and renewal.