I confess, we are troublemakers. We think differently. And we like to do things that are different. We don’t adapt to the world around us, we attempt to adapt the world to us. We love to challenge the status quo, join the rebel alliance, experiment with new ideas and promote constructive discomfort. We sit at the helm of the ship, facing the wind, breaking the ice and steering toward a brighter future. Even setbacks and head winds, steel our resolve to go further, faster. That is what we do and how we continually evolve to elevate ourselves, our teams and our company.
But around us, behind us and beneath us are the planks that support that steady progress and resolve. They may be taken for granted or go unnoticed. They support us, bind us and encourage us in ways we can’t even fully imagine. They are the rhythm of our lives. They are the fabric threads that encourage our hearts, bind our wounds, calm our anxieties and fill our sails with powerful gusts of energy. They are our traditions, our habits, our memorials and spiritual devotions. We lean on them and grow with them, year after year. We celebrate them. We gather around them as a human family, warming ourselves by their perpetual flame of stability, belonging and continuity.
Traditions. They are all around us. We are in the midst of the season of them right now. My family just celebrated several of them this past Thanksgiving week with rituals of family, fun and feasting around the dining room table. Like many of you, we celebrate with familiar holiday fare, play games, put together puzzles, participate in shopping excursions, go to the theater, watch holiday movies, bake cookies, send out Christmas cards, decorate the house and visit with family.
I love our traditions. They connect us to the past. They create bonds, shared values and experiences that forge us together as a stronger human family. Having traditions and looking forward to them brings comfort, hope and a sense of structure to our often unpredictable lives. I know what you are thinking. Yes, to be fair, there can be chaos in traditions too. But even those mishaps can add to the strength of our human story.
What are the traditions that bring you excitement, comfort and joy? Maybe you don’t have many? Well, guess what? You can make some new ones. Start this year. Assemble those planks under your feet. Stand up new guardrails of joy that you can count on and look forward to, year after year. Establish some personal or family traditions right now. Embrace some way that you can memorialize them and repeat them every year. I’m convinced that you will discover the same thing I have. The adventure is more rich, rewarding and enduring when you have traditions to keep, treasure and power you along the journey.
Happy traditions, everyone!