Hello, Goodbye

At the beginning of the year I did an exercise called Hello, Goodbye by Jo Saxton and Stephanie O’Brien, where I was given an opportunity to look back at the previous year.  A chance to process all that was learned and an opportunity to prepare for the year ahead.  2023…1 year, 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days that included seasons and experiences that were good and fruitful and some that were hard and discouraging.  

To give you a better understanding of the practice, we were to draw a timeline of the year and write down things that was experienced.  Here are some of the guiding questions I reflected on and encourage you to do so as you look at the past 6 months of 2024: 

What were some moments of joy and what were moments of sorrow?

What disappointed or frustrated you this year?  

What surprised you about the year? 

What did you learn in the mundane?

What wisdom did you learn from those around you?  

Are there themes or hints of what new things could emerge as you look back on the timeline?  What do you want to say hello to and what do you want to say goodbye to?  

What things do you hope to be strengthened in the second half of 2024? 

Personally, raising a child with extra I oftentimes don’t take time to reflect on what our additional needs are that need attention.  What permission do we need to give ourselves to name an experience that was a difficult…an appointment, IEP experience, etc.

With this type of intentional reflection, my personality needed a chance to write out what my experiences were so that I could actually pause long enough to recognize what was life-giving and what was not.  I thought I would share in the case that you may be encouraged by the timeline exercise.