Forty-One

I go into every Christmas break with lofty goals of reading several books, writing several blog posts, and working out several times. With little basketball and no teaching, I see an opportunity to catch up on some of the activities I love doing most. This year, like many others, I accomplished almost none of that.

Christmas break is busy. Perhaps a better word is eventful. From December 22-30, my family had some event or gathering in which to participate every day except for one. There was some down time here and there, but we really never stopped traveling, preparing, visiting, cleaning, etc. until today. One anniversary, five family Christmas celebrations, and two dinner parties later, and I'm beat. While many of you are out ringing in the new year this evening, my plan is to nestle snuggly into bed by 10 and consider myself a lucky man.

My accomplishment-driven nature tempts me to chide myself for the "lost opportunity" to read, write, and exercise more in the last week and a half. Starting Thursday this week I have 6 games in 12 days and two weeks left in the school's semester to get all the last minute grading and planning done. Unscheduled time will be at a minimum. If I can't accomplish my goals when I don't even have to work, how can I expect to the rest of the year?

But that's foolish thinking. A calmer, wiser me sat down last night to count my blessings. I sat down and tried to run through everything I'd done over the past 9 days and all the people I got to talk to. I made a list. In those nine days, I counted 41 people with whom I'd had meaningful conversations. Opportunities lost? I beg to differ. Forty-one times over, my life and time were enriched with boisterous laughter, penetrating questions, competitive banter, quick hugs, Nerf-gun wars, and several bottles of wine. 

Part of being a coach is being a numbers guy, and I've decided to put some numbers down for the new year as goals for certain areas of my life that I see as a priority. Having numbers for the year that I'm aiming to hit, with weekly and monthly averages to chase, is the equivalent of challenging my players to get a certain number of rebounds per game, or holding the opponent to a certain shooting percentage for a time. The goals are important; therefore, I've put firm numbers out there to shoot for. However, if people "get in the way" of achieving those numbers, so be it. Forty-one is a pretty good number too. I can celebrate that.

Thanks to all my readers this year, to the 41 for the past week and a half of smiles, and to all those I hope to smile with soon. Celebrate well, and thanks for reading.