Welcome aboard, my friends! As we bid farewell to the old year and cheerfully greet the new, let's take a moment to reflect, rest, and refocus. During this episode on Holly's Highlights podcast, we'll explore how life's imperfections and yearnings can sometimes cloud our appreciation of the present moment. With the backdrop of holiday traditions, family gatherings, and even turkey (or lack thereof), I'll share how we can leverage the lessons from the past as stepping stones for the future.
We'll discuss the importance of not getting stuck in the past but learning from it, and using it as a catalyst to propel us into the future. As your personal cheerleader, I invite you to join me on a journey of acknowledging the past with gratitude, refreshing in the present, and honing our focus for the future. Together, let's kickstart the new year on a high note, armed with a three-step plan and perhaps, a newfound appreciation of the present moment, even if it's without the turkey.
Visit www.hollycurby.com for more information and to sign up for the monthly Holly's Happenings e-newsletter. Holly's Highlights podcast and the opinions and ideas shared within it are for entertainment purposes only. The advice should be confirmed with a qualified professional.
Welcome aboard, my friends! As we bid farewell to the old year and cheerfully greet the new, let's take a moment to reflect, rest, and refocus. During this episode on Holly's Highlights podcast, we'll explore how life's imperfections and yearnings can sometimes cloud our appreciation of the present moment. With the backdrop of holiday traditions, family gatherings, and even turkey (or lack thereof), I'll share how we can leverage the lessons from the past as stepping stones for the future.
We'll discuss the importance of not getting stuck in the past but learning from it, and using it as a catalyst to propel us into the future. As your personal cheerleader, I invite you to join me on a journey of acknowledging the past with gratitude, refreshing in the present, and honing our focus for the future. Together, let's kickstart the new year on a high note, armed with a three-step plan and perhaps, a newfound appreciation of the present moment, even if it's without the turkey.
Visit www.hollycurby.com for more information and to sign up for the monthly Holly's Happenings e-newsletter. Holly's Highlights podcast and the opinions and ideas shared within it are for entertainment purposes only. The advice should be confirmed with a qualified professional.
Speaker 1:
Hi friends, welcome to Holly's Highlights, a podcast designed to encourage, inspire and accrue you to intentionally live your life full of purpose. I'm your host, holly Kirby, motivational speaker, leadership cultivator, marketing strategist and personal cheerleader. Let's check out today's highlight. Might I ask a personal request Would you mind taking a moment to rate, even leave a review, of Holly's Highlights podcast? I'd sure appreciate your time and consideration, as rating and reviewing helps others locate Holly's Highlights podcast and hopefully provide more opportunities for the time and intentionality of these episodes to be shared, to encourage, inspire and equip others to intentionally live their lives full of purpose too. I greatly appreciate you doing so and thank you to those who have already rated and reviewed. Holly's Highlights podcast has a five star and a five star rating is ranked top 10% globally of all podcasts. It's listened to on every continent and is ranked in the top 10 on good pods for how to Christianity and self-development and top 50 for business. Thank you, and thank you for listening to and sharing with others Holly's Highlights podcast.
Speaker 1:
Good morning, my friends, and Merry Christmas. I hope you had a wonderful day yesterday and, overall, a wonderful holiday season. I have soaked up every moment of being with my whole herd. I absolutely love being with my whole family. Now, as everyone gets older and the family grows, with some wonderful additions, things do change a bit, and, just as I shared, we went from turkey to ham this past Thanksgiving. Well, with gifts. This year, we no longer bought for each person in our herd of 15, mind you, but rather drew one name who we bought for. And then, of course, we still did stocking stoppers for everyone in the family. Now, although these are minor changes, except for the turkey, I really missed my turkey.
Speaker 1:
Sometimes such changes can have us longing for what was in life. You know, sometimes we think everything will be perfect. When or if only we were able to fill in the blank. You know, have that turkey, or even the what ifs in life. But what if one of these days, we look back and realize these are the good days that we're in now, even without the turkey? Oh, the more reason to enjoy the season that we are in.
Speaker 1:
Now, as we prepare for starting a new year, many of us are already thinking about setting our goals for such new year's resolutions, or what we want to accomplish or do in this next chapter. Well, in doing so, might I encourage us to implement three steps Reflect, rest and refocus. Reflect on the past. It starts with gratitude. I lost my mom to brain cancer four years ago and I miss her terribly. But I can either reflect on years gone by and fall into deep sorrow, or I can choose to give thanks for what was what I had, what I miss. Not live in longing for it again, but rather to give thanks that it even was. In season one, episode seven, on Holly's Highlights, we talk about four tips to having a grateful heart, or even in season two, episode 26, on how to have an attitude of gratitude. This might be good listens to in order to help us dive a little deeper in this area, so might I encourage you to check those out as we each stop and reflect on our gratitude.
Speaker 1:
Then, whether in our careers and parenting and life overall, what have you learned from the past?
Speaker 1:
What do you want to keep doing, like traditions and values, maybe even priorities or boundaries that have worked well? What do you need to stop doing or let go of? You know what has seen at season or its time, or maybe our stressors or hardships, maybe even guilt you're holding on to. Perhaps it's time to let them go and give them to God, or how, about things you need to even start doing? This could be a new approach, a new application or structure, or even a task overall.
Speaker 1:
You know those movies you watch where the gala or the guy goes back home and there's an old high school football star still wearing his Letterman jacket and the only conversation he knows how to have is that of the good old days. At that one football game and that one amazing play took place, he stuck living in the past. Reflect on the past, my friend, but don't get stuck there. Learn from it, appreciate it and then step into today, which is to rest and renew in the moment. Now, first off, if you're like me, you may just need to give yourself some permission here to rest. Don't worry about what others are going to think or say or assume of you, or even try to define what your rest should look like. Now, what boundaries might help you in resting and renewing? Perhaps phones not allowed in the bedrooms, or taking that vacation time you've earned, or something as simple as protecting dinner time around the table? A question that might help you here is what helps refill your tank? In season one, episode nine, on Holly's Highlights, we talk about six tips to avoid burnout. But then also season two, episode 23, focuses directly on a season of rest, which I get it.
Speaker 1:
It's hard for many of us. We've had a lot of change this year, especially this holiday season. In our family I'm used to doing so many of what I consider fun traditions with my family during Christmas time, but as my children get older, they now have other competing factors work, choir performances, afterschool tutoring, church activities, hanging out with friends, you name it. So I've had to let go of some traditions I really enjoy doing with my kids. Probably the hardest one was not doing my annual Christmas open house this year, but instead I've tried to rest and just renew in the moment, by not putting pressure on myself of not creating memories for them or feeling like that, but rather being intentional in the moment, such as when my daughter would come home from work and I'd make myself available wherever she was at to just listen about her day, simply be in the moment of being present with her, even if it wasn't off doing a typical holiday tradition.
Speaker 1:
Now this ties into that reflecting on the gratitude for what we used to do, but embracing the changes of life and resting in the moment, that is. And then we reset, refocus for the future. One of the first go-tos for me is to look at balance. Now, family will always be heavyweight here, as they are my top priority, but I try to then look at friends and my job and health, whether that be physical, emotional, spiritual, my personal growth and even community involvement. Not for you, students.
Speaker 1:
You might want to note listening to season two, episode two on Holly's Highlights, which dives deeper into this balancing of lives specifically for you as a student at any age, but perhaps asking God for what he has in mind for us. Not just another to-do list we don't need any more of those but as Isaiah 43.19a tells us, behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? So, as you have reflected and then rested, now be anticipating the refocus of what can be in this next year. Discover that purposeful planning and what brings you fulfillment and joy, what energizes you, what are you passionate about? I love what my sister and my brother-in-law are up to, and that is my brother-in-law's dream has been to write a book. So he just resigned from his job in December. He finished out just days before Christmas and now he's taking time off to just write and focus on accomplishing that dream, and my sister, she's supporting him 100% in this goal.
Speaker 1:
My friends, what is stopping you from accomplishing your goals? Don't end up with regrets. Instead, live a life of purpose. Perhaps you can't just up and leave your job to fulfill your dream, but what steps can you start implementing today to get a step closer to accomplishing those goals in the years to come? Because my mom used to ask us when we'd say a task was too big or too much, how do you eat an elephant? To which we'd reply one bite at a time.
Speaker 1:
Now I'd love to help equip you with the resources to get going. So head over to my website at hollycurbycom and you'll see a pop-up inviting you to sign up for the monthly Holly's Happenings email and in return, you'll receive the free Get it Done worksheet which will be emailed to you, and it's a reflective thinking process to really help you determine, set and achieve your goals. You can also listen to previous episodes on Holly's Highlights, such as the ones I've already shared above, but then also season two, episode one, regarding seven steps to goal setting into the new year. Be very specific to correlate with this one as well. And then the other resource is a private one-on-one coaching. If booked during the month of January of 2024, you can use it anytime in 2024, but it just has to be booked and paid for in January 2024. I am offering a one-on-one, one-on-one call for leadership or personal coaching for only $100. So, again, this could be for ministry, mentoring, for leadership cultivating, for marketing, strategizing, for personal life living, cheering you on. However, it might be Now to book that you just go to hollycurbycom and click on Work With Me Coaching, and I'd be honored to come alongside you.
Speaker 1:
However, I may, as the author of Chicken Soup for the Soul, alan Cohen, says, do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect. Merry Christmas and happy New Year's, my friends. Now go, continue to live your wonderful life intentionally and full of purpose. Thank you for joining me on this journey of life. I hope that today's highlight has been encouraging, inspiring and equipping so you can go out and live your life full of purpose. I'd be honored if you'd take a moment to leave a review or, better yet, subscribe. We can also stay in touch by joining my email list at hollycurbycom. That's H-O-L-L-Y-C-U-R-B-Ycom. Until next time, make it a great day for a great day.
