Annual Break: Rest, Reflect, and Rejuvenate

I shut down my marketing company, a process that took about a year of discovery and execution. In 2014, I started freelancing. That first year, as Thanksgiving approached, I began a ritual centered on gratitude and reflection. The first ritual involved reflecting on the past year and preparing for the upcoming break—it was about closing out a chapter.

The Reflection Ritual

I wrote a blog post reflecting on that year, capturing the lessons I had learned and the stories I wanted to preserve. That ritual evolved; I now do an annual report of sorts on my life—what’s new, what’s happened, and what’s changed in the last year, essentially putting a bookend on that time.

As we are in November, I encourage you to spend the next several weeks thinking about what you are grateful for, what you have learned, and what goals you accomplished or failed at. Write it down. You don't have to publish it publicly like I do, but write it down for yourself or share some of the highlights with those in your life or community.

The Purposeful Stop

The real goal after that reflection is to close the chapter and then take a break. For me, that means taking the month of December and sometimes part of January to stop my creation: stopping blogging, podcasting, and YouTube content. I turn off social media and even remove those apps from my phone if needed. I won’t be checking or using social media, nor will I be consuming content related to the news or anything that is trending and not evergreen.

I have books I plan to read, such as Team of Rivals (a gift from years ago), Degrade and Destroy (the inside story of the war against the Islamic State), and Renée DiResta’s book, Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality. I also plan to read the new devotional, For Such a Time As This. I will continue working on my book, which has been a long journey, hoping to finish it.

December is a month where I just pull out from the internet airwaves and anything that sucks us into that algorithm. I will not be publishing anything publicly on my website or any of these channels. It's about unplugging for at least a month. I'll continue my freelancing work, focus on reading, and spend time with family, thinking, and doing something different.

Growth Through Reflection

This is an extension of the idea of a Sabbath, where I take a month off every year, as I have done since 2014. This will be my 12th time doing this. You can read my annual reflection posts on my website here. I typically start things back up sometime in January.

This is the first time I'm using video to convey what I usually write about. I want to share this and encourage you to join me in this endeavor. I hope it’s as rejuvenating, insightful, helpful, and life-changing as this ritual has been for me.

As you think about your year, remember that reflection is how we grow. By learning from where we succeeded and where we failed, we can dive deeper into our values, reshape them, and then pivot, adjust, or continue what’s working in the new year.