November. The year is nearly over, and as we look back, it’s easy to feel a sense of frustration that many things at work and at home remain unfinished. Projects we began with great enthusiasm fell by the wayside, goals we set for the year have yet to be achieved. This feeling of unfinished business as we see the year’s end is a common enough experience as life often gets in the way of our plans.
Rather than dwell on what we have not accomplished that will only cause us anxiety, it is better to acknowledge that we can’t do everything. We need to accept the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day and that we can’t be all things to all people, no matter how serious our intent is to beat deadlines. With barely two months before 2025, we need to prioritize and take stock right this minute of the important things that have to be done. Recalibrating goals at this time would be a good idea simply because working on a few goals and doing it well is a lot better than doing everything below par.
And of course, we need to be kind to ourselves. At this time when there is a lot of stress coming from different directions, our mental and psychological health matters. We all know that stress and anxiety manifests in our physical well-being. We are not perfect, and that’s okay. Even if we don’t finish everything on the dot, we still made progress.
Christmas season came really early this year. Most commercial establishments have ditched the Halloween fanfare and rushed onto lighting Christmas trees in mid-October. This evokes a delightful feeling. It tells us that the holiday season is just around the bend, and at the same time reminds us that we have to make sure that we have wrapped up 2024 the best way we can.
We may not have finished everything we set out to do this year, but that doesn’t mean we’re failures. It just means we’re human.
