grat·i·tude
/ˈɡradəˌto͞od/ noun the quality of being thankful
This year has been a whirlwind in so many different ways.
Unpacking compounded grief takes time and a lot of soul-searching. Having the people you thought were friends walk out of your life isn’t easy. Dealing with people stalking your home isn’t easy. At times, life isn’t easy.
Alexander Graham Bell once said, “When one door closes another door opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us.”
In many ways, that perspective sums up what I focused on this year, specifically the latter. I could have been swallowed by my grief and spiraled into unproductive places. Instead, I chose to keep moving forward with an eye on the future.
Having vacated spaces at your metaphorical table creates opportunities. Often, serendipity allows new people to become precisely what you need at that time and place.
Equally important is learning to stop and enjoy the moments as they arrive. The literature on midlife gap years and executive sabbaticals became more widespread as the year progressed. I realized that while the complexity of my circumstances was never planned, it led me to the exact place where I needed to be.
Through existing commitments, I was able to enjoy traveling to some wonderful places, including Vancouver, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Pittsburgh. There were two trips to Colorado mixed in and an amazing weekend in New Orleans where a good friend and I sang our hearts out with Taylor Swift and 70,000 new friends.
This transition chapter concludes in Hawaii.
I booked this trip more than a year ago as a birthday adventure for my son. At the time, I didn’t know that it would also be the week my last didactic course assignment would be due. I turned the paper in before we left so I could enjoy the trip sans homework and let my brain clear out a bit before I undertake the next big step in my dissertation.
When I started the doctoral program in early 2022, maintaining a 4.0 was never on my list of things to accomplish, but alas, despite everything that transpired along the way, that’s exactly what happened. Maybe that has a little something to do with my scholarly interest in the topic of resilience.
As this year comes to an end, I am filled with gratitude: the adventures with so many friends, old and new; having the unwavering support of so many truly spectacular professional colleagues; completing the doctoral didactic coursework with a 4.0 and absolutely crushing the established metrics for the dissertation research; listening to the wise and strategic advice of legal counsel; regaining much of the health that last year cost me; actively spending quality time with family; and for the unwavering tenacity to keep moving forward.
November 30, 2024
