By Jonathan Wright
Take a good look at your life.
How are things working out for you?
I don’t know about you, but going home to visit my parents and other immediate family members, whom I see only a few different occasions each year, is always a time to step back for a moment and to assess my life.
At holidays and other special times, when you get together with family and friends whom you don’t see that often, you’ve probably noticed the same thing: conversations almost always eventually come around to questions regarding how you’re doing with some of your important goals in life.
That’s good.
Times like these, when the pace of life slows down temporarily to allow you to reconnect with your loved ones, provide golden opportunities to step back and reassess your goals and how you’re doing in realizing them.
Close friends and family members you haven’t seen for a while, even if you keep up with them regularly by phone, e-mail, and/or social media, inevitably get around to asking you those important questions when you finally have time to visit with them in person:
“So how’s it going with your work?”
“How are things with the kids?”
“Is everything going all right these days?”
“How’s the world treating you?”
“Are you still enjoying your job?”
These types of questions require you to stop, take an introspective look at your life and your goals, and see if you’re measuring up.
I have to admit that during these times of reflection I realize that I’ve spent far too little time keeping myself conscious of my goals. Way too often I get into the survival mode, focusing all my attention on simply keeping my head above water and meeting all my responsibilities.
It’s very therapeutic to interact with someone who asks some of the harder questions that require me to take a good look at myself and how I’m doing.
While such conversations aren’t usually very long, I do find myself preparing for them somewhat when these times approach. A week or so before I travel to visit family, I begin answering these questions in my own mind in anticipation of their being posed to me.
It’s always good to refocus, shift gears if needed, and take a renewed look at oneself. Of course, this topic is fresh on my mind since just a few days ago I returned from visiting with my family over 500 miles from here.
And yes, those questions were asked, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to answer them.
If those questions are not addressed occasionally, there tends to be the danger of plowing through life with tunnel vision. None of us wants that.
Let’s determine to stop a few times in this new year of 2014 and carefully take stock of ourselves. We’ll be better people for it.