Holiday season and the end of the year got me thinking around celebrations. We all had triumphs and tragedies in parallel and in different intensities this year, I'm sure.
celebration
/sɛlɪˈbreɪʃ(ə)n/
noun
the action of celebrating an important day or event
I consider myself lucky to having arrived in the Australian bubble just after the bushfires and before COVID. The only restrictions to my life, really, is not being able to fly to Europe to see my family whenever I want to. And maybe not worrying about what this could mean in a worst case scenario. Luckily enough, I'm usually not worrying about these potential future scenarios until they actually hit me. And I do feel for friends and strangers alike that have been hit a lot harder than myself. Circling a lot around the question "How can I help?" and "What is my positive impact to this world just beyond myself and my family's wellbeing?".
End of life is part of life. The ultimate transition and change we face.
Let me share with you my personal approach to end-of-year reflections.
Ultimately, end-of-year reflections is not very different than end-of-life reflections. End of life is part of life and can even determine the quality of your present life as well. In our western culture, we are so used to pushing thoughts and even the fact of death away for many reasons. One is that we're just not educated around language, rituals and behaviors for somebody or something to leave this world. It shows in so many ways, also in the corporate world. With organizational restructuring triggered mostly by Consulting firms comes a lot of communications around the future scenario, org charts, positions and new mindsets. Often little to nothing is being said about the old ways of doing things. I know because this is how I myself handled reorganizations. Pushing forward without looking back once. Not even giving people time to grief, reflect, let go. This experience has helped me to become a better Coach around transition topics in and out of corporate life.
Why do I share all this? We need to re-learn how to celebrate both our successes and our failures with all emotional facets.
In many first nation cultures, both triumphs and tragedies are being celebrated in a genuine, nurturing way using nature's elements. This helps the human psyche to gently acknowledge and come to terms with the challenges faced. Celebrations of important events also celebrate our humanness - social connections with the people we love. And I've just started to educate myself around this through thought-provoking organizations like the End Well project and how I want to face my own mortality.
Having said all this, let me ask you?
What triumphs and tragedies do you want to celebrate this year?
Taking a moment to be still, go inwards, think and feel what has happened last year and what I want to have happened by the end of next year. Being grateful. Letting go and letting come. Listening to myself, my inner wisdom to let new innovations emerge. Okay, for a lot of corporates out there this might sound esoterical, but let me assure you that even MIT Professors like Otto Sharmer teach this in a similar form (Theory U) to reflect on the past and bring something substantially new into the future.
Here are my personal and professional celebrations which my heart and mind call out:
building a family home: having taken the risk to shift our assets in order to purchase a mortgage-free 100 year-old, small cottage in the Blue Mountains which I want to call home for the rest of my life
un-learning some behaviors and mindsets that keep me from being the best parent and partner
committing to my business and professional calling: coaching people around the world in various forms and mastering the art of coaching
learning new forms of creativity and connection: co-hosting the Brave Transitions Podcast
Besides my closest support system, this brings me to the people whom I want to thank and share the celebration with.
I want to thank my very first clients this year who have trusted me with their challenges, sticked with me along my learning journey and kept on thriving. Seeing you transition into the work and lives you want for yourself and others, is the most rewarding work I've ever done.
Another shoutout to my "old" network connections mostly out of BASF who have publicly shared reviews and recommendations, forwarded my profile and connected me with some of their networks. You were the start of everything. Thank you!
Expanding into this professional world was such a steep learning curve, I got to meet so many new, incredible people who supported me in 2020: my own mentor coaches Ruth Roemer and Kirsten Dierolf with whom I would have never made it to PCC level (500hr+ credential by International Coach Federation), Nadine Nierentz who took me on as a Senior Consultant to her amazing Syspo Excellence institute for human-centric Exit Management, betterup and coachhub for bringing me online coaching clients into my backyard studio and all the incredible Coaches I was able to learn from this year through Supervision, Peer support etc.
My friends and business partners: Peggy Titmarsh for the Brave Transition Podcast and Sonja Kirschner for w/ sisters, our heartfelt, female group coaching project. Working with you has helped me through struggles and reminded me why I started in the first place. And we're such amazing teams! Can't wait to continue our partnership.
PS.: Instead of sending cards or gifts, Blue Mountains Coaching donated to YOUTH FOR UNDERSTANDING - an organization which nurtures intercultural connection through Youth exchange.
GUTEN RUTSCH! Happy new Year.
Best Cindy