A few years ago I was at a friend’s house for a big holiday gathering. The house was full of adults tending to a lot of loud, energetic kids. I was just sitting there quietly, watching one of the guys my age tend to his young son. He looked up, and as if reading my mind (or at least the expression on my face) he said to me, “Everything changes Tom, everything changes.”

As simple and obvious as that statement is, I’m still struck by those profound words.

So how have you changed this past year? You might think you haven’t, but you’re not the same person today that you were at the beginning of the year. Since last Christmas, the world around you has changed. Your work has changed, your family has changed, and your relationships in both these environments have changed too.

Whether your kids are young or old, they’ve changed. Whether your parents are young or old, so have they. And it’s precisely these changes that caused you to respond, learn, and adapt throughout the year.

So how well have you handled these changes this past year? Hopefully, you dealt with most of these transitions pretty well, and learned from the times that you didn’t.

I hate to admit it, but this past year has shown me that I don’t handle change as well I thought.

Over the past twelve months, I’ve seen how the years have taken a real toll on a couple people that I love. Over forty years ago, my youthful parents moved from Green Bay to a house they built in the country. They turned it into a great home, filled with good times and bad. Now forty-some years later, their home became more of a house and decided to move to Green Bay.

Last Christmas, I didn’t realize that it would be our last Christmas in that house. Chances are, this Christmas will different for you and your family too. Maybe it’s your first Christmas without someone you love. Maybe it’s your first Christmas with someone you love. Either way, this one will be different.

They say every ending is the start of a new beginning. I’m not sure who “they” are, but they’re right. We’ve all passed through a lot of endings/beginnings in order to arrive at where we’re at today. They’ve changed us, and they make life the wonderful adventure it’s supposed to be.

Here’s to celebrating life… Merry Christmas!

For anyone who lives at the end of a long driveway or spends a lot of time traveling for work, a big snowstorm is always unwelcome news. But after the yard is plowed and the roads are cleaned off, few things are more quiet and peaceful than a fresh blanket of snow. The mornings are brighter and the nights are quieter – truly a peaceful time of year.

Although it might be too cold to stand outside to enjoy our Winter Wonderland this week, when was the last time you slowed down to enjoy the quiet calmness of winter?

Most of us don’t. We’re too preoccupied with everything on our To-Do list and all of the distractions that keep filling up our days. We value doing over actually being. As a result, we overlook many of the little moments that truly matter.

Every year at this time, many of us say we’d like to slow down and enjoy the holidays, but then we do the opposite. Ironically, we give in to the pressure of filling up our calendars, and then rush around frantically complaining that there’s so much to do before Christmas and ‘year-end’.

Most of us would love to slow down. But we’re also committed to getting all of our work done. We nurture our work time while neglecting our downtime.

Why do you think that is? Is it because we value the benefit from our work more than the benefit from our rest? Or is it because one’s just easier to manage than the other?

Ultimately, you can quantify the value of the work you do by looking at your pay check and financial statement. So how do you place a value on the time you spend being calm and still? If you say you can’t put a number on it, you’re probably right… it’s priceless.