As the final days the year approach, one would look back and believe this was the most turbulent and insane year in recent memory. Was it really? Yes, some unbelievable things happened, many celebrities and musicians passed away, but doesn’t that happen every year?
Wouldn’t 2011 be the most turbulent year of your life if you were an Egyptian participating in the Arab Spring in order to bring monumental change or a Syrian witnessing their country being reduced to rubble since 2011 or a survivor of the many natural disasters that occur every year? What is significant to us is what moves us. It just seems people around my age were repeatedly reminded this year of the fragility of life with the deaths of many famous personalities from our childhood through adulthood. To lose John Glenn, Prince, Muhammad Ali, Florence Henderson and Carrie Fisher, plus so many more in one year is both brutal and ridiculous at the same time. They are just famous people we never knew personally, not family, some would say. But the power of their craft through their art forms and achievements reached us, inspired us and moved us in a very personal way.
These losses to our collective past plus my own personal experiences with death and near death this year has brought my annual year end reflection into sharper focus. Like one of my favorite Rolling Stones songs says, “Time waits for no one, and it won’t wait for me.” I started my efforts to “Be Seen and Heard” a year ago to some success, but I need to work harder, learn more, manage my time better. Tony Robbins said, “Knowledge is not power, it’s potential power.” It is action that creates progress and growth which leads to fulfillment.
In 2017, I will stop collecting articles and actually read them, learn from them, then apply them. I will make creativity a daily practice, not only when called upon. I will share my creativity, not hide it anymore. I want to be significant to the small businesses in my community as a means to help them thrive. This year I will live my company’s slogan and “Be Seen and Heard!”
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