How to start putting 2023 behind you

Plus some personal good news to share!

Hello and welcome to Academia Made Easier. I am so glad that you are here.

Back in the 2010s, a period that feels like yesterday and a million years ago all at once, there were a few years with a spate of celebrity deaths. Some were due to drugs, others to disease, others still to that classic killer, old age. With each celebrity death, my social media feeds would light up. What a terrible year, with so many celebrity losses. How much more can you possibly take from us, 201X? This is the worst year. Oh the humanity.

It was, in retrospect, a gentler time. 

2023 has been a hard year for many people, for many reasons. So was 2022. And 2021. And no need to even mention 2020. The world is a heavy place, society is changing in profound ways, and somehow both The Bachelor and the Real Housewives franchises remain on the air. It is a lot to take in and to move past. 

But, for me at least, it is helpful to pause and process before moving on to the next year. (2024! My child-self expected a full Jetsons world by now!) I find it valuable to think through the year that has gone by, and prefer to do so before the holiday break so that I can save that time and mental energy for games, food, movie binges, and more food.  Even if it has been the best year ever for you, there is value in the process.

I encourage you to take a few minutes yourself to process the year before heading into the holiday break. And that’s the topic of today’s small thing to try immediately. 

One Small Thing to Try Immediately: Three Reflections Braindump

I have written before about the value of reflection. In “How to end the season on a high note”, I presented a basic framework and worksheet, along with a super-cute photo of my cat Bandit. I repeated this idea in “How to feel good about what you accomplished over the summer”, with yet another super-cute photo of Bandit. And in “How to end the semester on a high note (or at least a neutral one)”, I presented another worksheet, but sadly no photos of Bandit. If you have the time to do these more extensive reflection activities, I encourage you to do so. As I wrote in the Bandit-less (😢😿) newsletter, “Amongst my academic colleagues, and this is certainly true for me, there is a tendency to just keep plowing forward. … We don’t celebrate our successes, nor examine our challenges. We just keep trudging along.” Taking time for reflection can be more impactful than you realize.

But I realize that not everyone wants to take 20 minutes to work through a worksheet, be it on their own or with their team. So today I present you with a simplified version. You need paper, pen, and a willingness to dump your (possibly chaotic) thoughts about the year onto a page.

Got the paper and pen? Okay, let’s go! Question 1: What were your successes in 2023? Professional, personal, household, fitness, writing, teaching, leadership, laundry, parenting, research grants, whatever. If you count it as a success, write it down. Tip: be generous in defining things as successes. Not everything needs to be an A+, or even a B-. Success might be finishing a project without killing your collaborators* or getting through a kitchen renovation without killing your retirement fund. (*Note to my collaborators: you are awesome and I have never thought a single negative thing about any of you ever. 😘) Success might be maintaining your once a week swim despite your schedule or having family dinner once a week. Celebrate it ALL!

Okay, moving on. Question 2: What challenges did you experience in 2023? Again, consider all categories. Some things will immediately jump to mind. Dump them on the page. Challenges don’t have to be events, obstacles, circumstances, workload, or the more obvious stuff. Include here any emotional stuff you found challenging over the year. Rage at your ex, your colleague, or the state of the world? Write it down. Grief about a lost loved one, a life transition, or the state of the world? Write it down. Dump it all out of your brain and onto the page. (Yes, you are free to burn the page later!).

Alright, last question. Question 3: What are the lessons? Thinking through both the successes and the challenges, what are the takeaways? I learned a lot of things this year, some good, some practical, some not so great but at least informative. What lessons can you take from this year? If nothing comes to mind, force yourself to come up with three things, even if they are mundane. (E.g., “Flights leaving at 6 am leave me exhausted for the day and are to be avoided at all costs.” “Emily is a great colleague and can be counted on when I need help.” “If I take a photo of expenses right when I get the receipt and then email it to myself, I am more likely to submit it quickly.”) You learned things this year. Write them down.

And that’s it! I hope you will try this exercise. You deserve to dump all of this stuff out of your brain so that you can put the year into the rearview mirror and enter the holiday period with a free mind.

Bonus: Please check out the below additional other end-of-year content as you start putting 2023 behind you:

• “How to balance and keep moving forward until the end-of-term”

• “How to take small steps now to allow for a true end-of-year break” 

• If you still have holiday shopping to do: “How to start thinking about holiday shopping when December seems far, far away” and “How to start thinking about holiday shopping when December seems far, far away, 2022 edition”. (Where, you ask, is the 2023 edition? Well, I meant to write it, just like I meant to be done my holiday shopping by now. Fails on both fronts! But at least my past self met a higher standard!)

Until next time…

Unrelated to any of the above, I am both happy and humbled to share with you that I am the inaugural award recipient of Saskatchewan’s Lieutenant Governor’s Distinguished Teaching Award. Teaching, mentoring and educational leadership mean a great deal to me and receiving this award is a true honour. 

And finally, here is an updated Bandit photo. Enjoy! 😉 

Stay well, my colleagues. 

P.S. In my last newsletter, I told you about the Academia Made Easier Reader Survey 2023. For those of you who have responded already, my sincerest thanks. You are clearly ‘do it now’ people and I respect that. And if you haven’t responded yet, no worries – it will be open all month. But hey, maybe this is your chance to become a ‘do it now’ person… I look forward to hearing from you!

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