Wrapping Up 2009

It's been a good year.  If you're surprised to hear me say that, and a bit intrigued given the economic climate of the past 4 seasons, keep reading. The financial situation aside, the scales of my life are heavily weighted on the positive side. That's a good reason to celebrate!

Over the weekend I had a bit of enforced bed rest during which I couldn't read or do much, giving me time to think about what I have achieved during 2009. It's been an enormously productive year for me, but I didn't actually realize that until I found myself in a temporary state of dysfunction. Through the haze of my sore head (ice skating accident) and pounding headache, appeared a third-person view of me, my work, my family and other relationships, as if I was hovering above my life and taking in the bigger picture.

I would have to be an incredibly mindful person to appreciate the here-and-now each and every day.  While I try, I'm just not that Zen. Daily meditation would help, but there are days when the noise of the world outside won't go away and I completely forget that simple exercise of stillness and emptying the mind of all the pesky and petty thoughts that pass through it.

This morning, I wondered whether I had just dreamed my positive lightbulb moment. However, flipping through my 2009 Diary and my gratitude journal this morning confirmed my conclusion. It's not that I've had any one brilliant success; more the cumulative effects of many little achievements, like a snowball rolling down a hill. 

• I started this blog; my very first one, and discovered the world of blogging, of which I hadn't had a clue.

• I finally saw the wisdom of nicheing my coaching practice into a specialty that I am passionate about. I truly and deeply enjoy working to improve the lives of people who are experiencing infertility and other reproductive health, family and parenting issues.

• The Your Great Life blog has become my public statement of commitment to helping those people who are struggling with reproductive health issues: severe PMS (PMT), infertility, miscarriage, fertility treatment and alternative means of family building (including egg or sperm donation, surrogacy and adoption) and menopause. 

• I joined a Mastermind Group that ran for a few months at the beginning of the year and took away with me the understanding that I am a coach and a business woman. Previously, I thought that to be a good coach, I had to negate the business side of things. Now I know that I am providing a valuable service and can be proud of my hard work and achievements. In fact, I can go one further now and see myself as an entrepeneur.

• I continued to host & run the 2 1/2 year old Creative Writing Club, for kids, until July.

• I taught myself to use and link together Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for social and business networking.
• I overcame my discomfort about sending the children to Religion School (Cheder) at the weekends, when I saw them making friends, having fun, singing and learning about our heritage.
• I joined the Athena Network in April, bringing me into contact with dozens of other business women a few times each month and have gotten more out of it than I expected. Jacqueline Rogers, Gina Romero, Jane Milton, Lisa Roberts, Margaret Bradley, Debbie Diggle and others: You are savvy, professional and charismatic women and you are helping me grow.
• I started the North London Miscarriage Support Group, under the auspices of the Miscarriage Association, from my house in May, eventually moving over to Spire Bushey Hospital.
• I finally decided to embrace varifocals, making life so much simpler and more clear (oh dear, bad pun).
• I finally  managed to give our daughter her own bedroom, which she needed and deserved. I also allowed her to choose the decor and customize it with her own sense of style, without criticism.
• I instigated the building of our tree house (by Brian), which is fantastic.  If the kids don't make enough use of it, it may just be converted into an office for me when the weather warms up. It can barely be seen. Anyone want to join me for a drink on the deck?
• I became a regular guest blogger for Access Diagnostics, a company started by two doctors that supplies fertility-related products on line.
• I found a fantastic location, with a great house, in Wales for a week away with our friends, the Mittlers from Santa Fe, NM in June, topped off with the best week of weather for all of 2009.
• I supported my husband and our friend Stephen through Stephen's diagnosis of liver cancer, his 4 months of illness and his death in August.  It's the first time in my life that I handled the death of a friend, my grief and that of their loved ones in a mature, head-on way.  All previous experiences had me running away to avoid the feelings, much to my embarrassment now.
• I attended several seminars, events (the WoW Show,the Fertility Show, etc...) and training sessions to increase my knowledge of infertility issues and make positive connections with practitioners in the fertility field. 
• We gave our son the 6th birthday party of his dreams: creating a pyramid and "underground tunnels," two sarchophigi (King Tut and Nefertiti), mummy wrappings and a 7-layer pyramid cake for 33 children in our back garden.
• We gave our daughter the birthday weekend of her dreams for #10: double-digits!!! Rock climbing, a 6-girl sleepover and enormous cupcakes for each of them.
• I have had eleven articles published about infertility, fertility treatment, stress and/or parenting on the internet by Ezine Articles. I plan to write more regularly in 2010.
• I arranged for office space for my coaching sessions in the new, very nice offices of Stanmore Chiropractic Clinic.
• Our dear friends, Marianne and her youngest son, Chris, came to visit for a wonderful weekend, from New Jersey.
• In 2010, I plan to expand the Your Great Life brand to cover fertility coaching, a referral service, an infertility support group, a fertility-related book review, workshops, events and fertility-related products.

There are still quite a lot of things that need to be done, improved and/or ditched, and aspirations to pursue, but I choose to focus on the up side today in wrapping up 2009.