2017: What’s on your calendar?

The end of the year is full of all kinds of holiday festivities. We bake, and shop, and plan, and laugh and gather with friends and family.

Eventually I realize I’ve run out of days. December is full. I can’t squeeze any more in (though I admit I am still trying).

January is right around the corner, and suddenly I’m writing notes in the margins of my calendar about things to remember in 2017.

The annual ritual of buying a new calendar always fills me with a sense of anticipation about the new year, much more than New Year’s resolutions do. I carefully compare all the options and look for just the right one.

It’s not magical, you might be thinking. It’s just a calendar. It’s just a tool that I use to stay organized. The garbage in, garbage out principle applies: It’s only as good as the information I put into it. And I have to use it for it to work.

Yet it always feels like a fresh start, this ending of one year and looking toward another via a new, blank calendar. Anything can happen: The days can be full of plans, or wide-open spaces for ideas still to come.

What kind of year do I want to have? An interesting one, full of deeper relationships, richer conversations and greater understanding. Full of new challenges, changes and growth.

I’ll explore some of my thoughts about that in this blog – another new thing for the new year.

2017 is almost here. What will you make of it?