Day 15 — Temporal Landmarks
It’s been a bit. I’ve been away because my grandfather passed away somewhat unexpectedly and being with my family was a higher priority than continuing this blog series. I say somewhat because he was 93 and while he would still dutifully drag his neighbors’ trash cans up their driveways every Thursday he shuffled slowly as he went because he had lost most of the feeling in his feet years ago due to neuropathy. We spent a few days celebrating his life and it’s been weeks of sharing our favorite stories and reconnecting with relatives I haven’t spoken to in years. In an odd bit of timing, he had made plans for the yearly get-together we have to celebrate my grandmother, his wife. She passed away 25 years ago and every year the family gets together for mass and dinner on the weekend closest to the anniversary of her death. This was the first year I was going to be able to go, simply because of circumstances, it worked out that I could attend. When I got the call, changed my flight, and throughout the past weeks, I became ever more grateful for those circumstances. We celebrated them both and will continue to do so.
I’ve spent a good portion of my time over the last few weeks reflecting and reading. Reflecting on a good, long life and what it meant to know my grandfather. I was able to live with him in my last year of college, a time I knew I would cherish later and today find I most definitely do. Reflecting at a time in the year when many of us reflect as the holidays come to a close. The year winds down and winter settles its soft blanket of cold and darkness over much of the northern hemisphere. One of the books I was reading was When by Daniel Pink. “The first day of the year is what social scientists call a ‘temporal landmark.’” In the same way one might say, “If you get to the Burger King, you’ve gone too far,” we demarcate the passage of time, disrupting the steady droll of the days and weeks with events we deem significant — birthdays, holidays, beginnings, and ends.
These landmarks help us start anew which is why the first of the year is such a compelling time for people to set resolutions and goals. They also give an opportunity to consider the 30,000 foot view, to see the forest rather than focusing on the trees right in front of us. The beginning of a new year is not the only temporal beginning. When reviews 86 days that can be times to make a fresh start which include: first day back from vacation, first of the month, first of the week, first day of the season, first day of the semester, anniversaries, birthdays. I think you could invent your own as well.
Part of my reflecting made me decide this experiment is over. I set out to do 30 days, but I don’t think I need the other 15. I’ve learned what I needed to learn and it’s time for me to move on. I learned that I can write consistently. I learned that I want to focus on creating quality content rather than checking the box just to say I did it. Creating quality content every day is really hard. I have renewed empathy for the content creators I follow. I have enjoyed sharing the things that have helped me build the mindset I have today and hopefully what I shared benefitted some folks out there. I’ll still be writing but I’m hoping to produce less with more research at a higher standard of quality. Not to say I didn’t put my best efforts into the posts I wrote, but it was more off the cuff than reviewed and researched and I’d like to do a bit of that.
Thank you for reading (if anyone does indeed read this). Whoever you are, thank you for giving me some of your time.
