We are over half way through the holiday season. Thanksgiving and Christmas have passed; but football playoffs, the Superbowl, and New Year’s Eve and Day are waiting to pounce on us like Mardi Gras on an unsuspecting tourist. The stress of having to watch all the bowl games, NFL playoffs, go to the many celebrations, and eat and drink beyond sanity is too much to bear for some. Adding salt to a wound, many of our employers expect us to function at work as if nothing else was happening outside the grey walls of industrial servitude. What are we to do? Give up; stay inside and watch reruns? Buy a gross of antacids and hope for the best? No! Giving up is not in our DNA and hope is not a plan (unless you are in the Federal Government). I have tested four strategies which will help you to survive the holiday season and escape to the doldrums of January physically unscathed and mentally neutral.
Monthly Archives: December 2013
A Legacy Worth Remembering
Have you noticed that the single most important driving force in some people’s life is to leave a legacy of “amazing” accomplishments for future generations to acknowledge or debate? The need for recognition of a life well lived is not detrimental, it is, given the human need for acceptance and love, highly understandable. However, if the preoccupation with shaping the future opinion of people whom you have never met overwhelms the responsibility of caring for those whom you should love today, then a review of your priorities is in order.
Moving Day
Last week we helped move our daughter, her husband and their six month old daughter into a new apartment. The entire move was accomplished in a single day with the help of a rental truck, dozens of boxes, and willing friends and family. I’m not certain why it is so, but moving-in always seems easier than moving -out. The new apartment was empty and clean; each appliance was new and shiny, the walls gleamed with fresh paint, and every bathroom tile was buffed to perfection. By contrast, the old residence appeared cluttered and in need of a thorough cleaning, as is the state of most apartments on move-out day. Yet at some stage in their mutual existence, the new and old apartments both were filled with furnishings the owner believed they needed, and later, just prior to a new occupancy, the rooms were emptied and cleaned. Space must be made in the old before the new can be moved in.