Some years are more noteworthy than others. As 2022 winds down, my wife and I took the opportunity to pause and reflect on what was a watershed year in our lives.

  • We started 2022 with our oldest son’s marriage to a remarkable woman.
  • We decided to sell our 30-year home and move to our lake home.
  • My wife said “goodbye” to her role in the local high school.
  • We moved.
  • We traveled to Italy, where I served as the officiant in the wedding of our youngest son to a remarkable woman. (See my article: Leadership Reminders from My Summer Vacation as a Wedding Officiant.)
  • We renovated our lake home from top to bottom while restoring over 300 feet of shoreline.
  • I had my busiest and most enjoyable year in my coaching and leadership development practice while diving into teaching at a new (for me) university.

 A Year Well-Lived and Doing Fine

More than a few people have asked us, “Are you two OK?”

Yes, we’re more than “OK.” It was a year well lived with all the stresses and strains of the many activities but the exhilaration of making decisions and moving forward on activities important to us. We opted for change and adventure, and we wind down the year grateful for the opportunities that presented themselves and thankful for the energy and resources to seize them.

Ten Life Lessons & Reminders from Our Year of Adventure

A few of the lessons learned (or reinforced) along the way;

1. There’s never a perfect time for big adventures. Seize the moment regardless of conventional wisdom.

2. Saying goodbye to the familiar was hard, especially for me. Leaving a 30-year home where we raised our sons was heart-wrenching. Yet, in the end, it’s not the structure, but the memories that matter, and memories travel nicely.

3. Never move yourself. Yeah, we did that. We had months of weekends to shift our things north a couple of hundred miles. We did it without movers. Never again. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should!

4. Run, don’t walk to pass along the possessions you’ve saved in boxes and bins for some indeterminate future. That stuff weighs you down and prevents you from pivoting to new adventures. There are very few things worth keeping over the decades, and newsflash, your children, definitely don’t want them. (Come up with a strategy for pictures and videos…and when you do, let me know…these things are both valuable and overwhelming in volume.)

5. Always focus on the people in your life. There’s nothing more important. Of everything that happened in this past year, our two weddings and officiating at one of them are lifetime milestones.

6. Consistent with #5, always take the time to slow down and focus on the other person–your partner, your customer, or someone who needs your help. It’s easy to be “too busy” to focus on others. Don’t fall into that trap.

7. Sometimes, you have to move the rocks. OK, regardless of my advice on moving above, there’s some work you cannot avoid. Adding 200 tons of stone to our shoreline to prevent further erosion demanded that every rock be hand placed to do the job correctly. Embrace hard work when it is essential to getting the job done right.

8. When you’re in the thick of the mess, there’s no time to lament or complain; keep moving. (Anyone who has lived through a renovation where they did a fair amount of the work can relate to this.)

9. Everything works differently than planned. Mistakes happen. Enjoy the surprises and grow comfortable with pivoting. Every obstacle offers learning opportunities.

10. Celebrate every day. Never take a sunrise or sunset for granted. None of us is guaranteed another one.

I could keep going, but the add-ons are all thematically linked to the above. What are some of the lessons you learned from your life’s adventures in the past year? 

The Bottom for Now:

It’s exhilarating to enter the new year reflecting on the old one as well-lived. Time for some new adventures. May yours be exciting, overwhelming, and ultimately thrilling.

Art's Signature