93. Ten Prompts to Help You Prepare For 2022

Hey everyone, Merry Christmas! And, um, by the time you're listening to this, it will definitely be a Happy New Year. It'll be 2022. And I decided, after a little hesitation, to record kind of a year-end— not so much of a recap, but more of a Here's what I think about at the end of a given year and the process and questions that I ask myself as I look to prepare for a new year. I will admit I have kind of a tricky past with goal setting in general, budgeting for sure. And I guess partly it's because as an entrepreneur and a business owner and a really active community person, I have always felt that isolating goals just to the realm of my business itself, it— they always left me feeling a little— I always felt kind of wanting, like I was, like I was missing some sort of magical blend of my home life and my work life. And so I've started, you know, a few years ago doing more of this reflection. It's, you know, I love this time of year, but I've always been a bit more drawn to the idea of reflection over review and then dreaming over goal setting. There's something about the way those words engage my heart and my soul. And, and yes, like, again, we always joke, like, Enneagram is— it happens to be one of the assessments we talk about on the show. My VA Cassidy is a total Enneagram nerd. Brody, we've talked about it. You'll soon hear an upcoming episode with a couple of psychologists and we talk about it there. And anyway, so I'm an Enneagram 7. And so what that means is I, I'm the enthusiast. I get excited about stuff. And what I truly do believe is that while there's certainly some drawbacks to the Enneagram 7, as there are with all types of people, namely being I, I struggle to finish stuff, especially if I lose the love for it. That's like my big downfall. But the positive is that when my heart and my soul and I'm like on and they're engaged and I'm on fire for something, I'm a great person to have on your team. And since I run Growing Small Towns, the organization, I typically or technically run it alone. I don't feel alone. I've got a great board of directors, I've got great partners and all of that, but at the end of the day, when it comes down to like who makes the decisions in this business, it really is me. I want to be the best team member I can be for myself. And then I have a family, um, I'm on boards, I'm active in lots of other roles and capacities, and I want to be the best, the best me that I can be, the fullest me that I can be. Um, I've been keynoting for, for a few years now, and I'm going to revisit this year just because I think it's it's a relevant point that, you know, to me, the goal is to become full strength you. I often joke like, I like my people just like I like my coffee, full strength. So it's not, it's not being anything other than who you actually are, but dialing into what the hell that means for you and then bringing that forward into whatever context you want. So, so these questions that I'm going to share with you, there's actually 10 of them. Um, most of them are based on, you know, taking a look at this past year and then thinking about what works that I want to bring forward into 2022, and what am I perfectly fine, uh, just leaving to hang in '21 and saying, uh, yep, no thank you. Like, I appreciate what you did for me, but I'm not bringing you forward into 2022. Some of them are more just energy-based questions, but overall these questions are, are really meant to help you reflect on what went well and think differently about what's to come. And I think regardless of the context you use, these questions are— they are— the goal again is to make it about you. How do I help myself become the best version of myself so I can show up the way I need to for everyone and everything that I'm involved with? So I used to be kind of hardcore about like believing and manifesting, and I still kind of believe in it. But I think more than that, I truly believe that we, with the right mindset about stuff, really paying attention to the beliefs that we have that are holding us back, we can cultivate more of what we want. So again, I, I want to share this. I've shared this in, in some previous episodes, and some of these things I made— I may drop references to people from this past year or episodes we've we've done before. And we'll be sure to tag any of those in the show notes. But, and I don't remember the episode, so you have to— oh, it was called Love the One You're With, I think. Again, I didn't make notes about this, you guys. Well, I'll add it to the show notes. But in that discussion, it's this whole chart that basically talks about the fact that we individually, collectively, as communities, as companies, as organizations, We get results, right? Results tend to be the thing that we look at when we go, okay, our sales numbers are down, or we didn't attract the number of community members we wanted, or I run a coffee shop and I didn't sell enough coffee. So that's a result, right? Sales numbers are a result. Anything that can be measured is a result. So we spend a lot of time thinking about how do we change results. Well, if you back up and you think about the fact that results are driven by actions that we take as human beings. Okay? Human beings take actions and then those actions yield results. But it's not enough even just to say, okay, well, what actions should I change? Action is super important, don't get me wrong. But there's another piece of this and it backs up and you have to back up again and recognize that your beliefs influence the actions that you'll take. What we believe to be true, what we believe to be false, what we believe to be right, what we believe to be wrong influences the decisions we make and the choices we make and the actions we take, which again yield results. If you back up one more time, and not even one more time, there's two more times. One step beyond or before beliefs are thoughts and feelings. Okay? We get thoughts. And then the first, the very first thing is something happens to us. Okay? It's experiences, it's events, it's stuff. Stuff happens and immediately we go, oh, and we have a thought about it. Okay, so about this thing that's happening to me, I think I'm capable, I think I'm not. Then I feel worthy, I feel like I'm not. Get it? And then from there, it starts to actually cement into a belief, like I'm equipped to handle this challenge or I'm not. And then that belief— again, this is an example— will then influence what you choose to do about that thing, whether you take proactive, like a proactive measure, or whether you hide or you deny it, you know, all of those things. And then those actions yield an eventual result. Now, that might sound super simplified, but in a nutshell, that's life. Okay. The thing that we don't get to control is the stuff that happens, the event, the experience, the thing, a lot of times it's another person. And then we think a thing that then makes us feel a thing that then makes us believe a thing, do a thing, and then get a thing. So I only remind us, remind you, us, I just said us because again, I'm right in the middle of this reflection time as well. I will share my thoughts about these questions for my own life just as a because I share with you guys, I'm not afraid to do that. Also, just as a kind of an example, but I always need this reminder too, because I will share this, um, I'm back in therapy and I'm not ashamed of that in any way, shape, or form. When we find ourselves in the process of either chasing down something really big or, you know, trying to pursue something, accomplish something, achieve something, um And then, like, again, I'm a mom and I'm a wife and I'm a daughter. My parents are my next-door neighbors and my dad and my husband work together. My brother lives in town. My kids go to a small school. I go to the church I grew up in. Like, if that small little smattering of things isn't enough to make you go, gosh, yeah, I bet there's some challenges with some of that. And it's not because my family sucks, okay? There's just challenges because Loving people is hard. Being a human is hard. So I'm back in therapy to help me develop some strategies because I really truly believe that sometimes I hit a limit. I practice this stuff, I work really hard at it, and I still need help. I need help. So I want to share with you the thing that my therapist just said to me, and this was maybe this last week. I'm a big feeler, right? And so she says to me, 'Who makes you feel?' And I didn't see the trap. I didn't see this. She wasn't trying to trap me because she's not a bad person, um, but I didn't, I didn't answer correctly because I didn't get it. And I'm like, 'Oh, my kids, my kids make me feel— they make me feel all—' And I like went on this little rant about how wonderful my kids, like, the fact that I can— they make me feel the highest of highs and just the shittiest of lows. And she's like, she's like, 'Oh, that's so great. I love that your kids make you feel—' And she goes, 'You make yourself feel.' And I'm like, 'Oh, of course I do.' And I felt so stupid, but I was like, 'Oh, good one. Like, you caught me.' And then she reminded me that our thoughts are what create our feelings. And so it really does take an incredible amount of self-awareness and mindfulness to catch those thoughts before they turn into feelings that we actually act upon. So I share that only to remind you that as we, as you listen to these specific questions, again, there's 10 of them, to remember that like even though sometimes it feels like there is so little we're in control of, we are always, always, always in control of our response. And so if we really don't like what we're getting, then we can probably make a shift or a change somewhere to get a better result. Honestly. And I believe that that's true because if it's not, then what? We live in a world that we're just completely sucker punched by every whim and bullshit thing that happens? That doesn't feel very empowering, does it? And by the way, empowering means that we ourselves have the power. And okay, I happen to be a religious person. I don't get into that a ton in this podcast or in my work because I understand that that's a very personal thing. So when I say I have the power, I simply mean that I have the ability to make a choice. And I believe in the value of that because I, I don't believe we are ever in our best and most productive positions when we feel like we're a victim. So, okay, so while that was a big long crazy rant. Uh, so without further ado, let's talk about these 10 things. Okay, so question number 1, uh, who are the people that really made a difference for you last year? I have a list 10 miles long, um, but what I, what I, what I've done to start to kind of analyze this is I actually looked back. Like, obviously there's people that just immediately rise to the surface for all of us, probably start just making a list, okay? Write them down. And then I would encourage you to go back— if you're a calendar user like I am, everything goes in my, my Google Calendar. Um, if you're a physical planner person, that's rad, do, do your thing. Go back every month, month by month, and kind of review where you were, what you did. And it probably will spur additional people that definitely deserve a little note of appreciation. And then again, I really do, I mean it, encourage you to buy a box of thank you cards, blank thank you cards, and handwrite them some notes. When I get handwritten notes in the mail, I am always so touched and so tickled. And I think there is something very powerful about that act for us as well, being the person writing the note. So do that and commit to sending them all by the first week of the new year. So for you guys, this will be, you'll be hearing this on a Monday. It's the 3rd of January today. By the end of this week, you know, and if that's not enough time, give yourself to the end of the second week of January. That's fine, but don't delay. It puts you in a mindset of gratitude. And then maybe, maybe this becomes something that instead of at the end of the year, you go back and do it. You decide to do it every month. But let's be, let's be real, Franz, there is an enormous, enormous benefit to taking the time to appreciate verbally and/or in a written note. Again, I'll always vote for written notes because I think they're underrated and special. But letting people know how they impacted you, what they meant to you. It's not just a thank you. If you can try to hit that perfect target of identifying what it is about them that they bring to your life. Make it personal, make it specific. Anytime it's generic and anytime it's just a, you know, thank you for being my friend, that's great, but it's not, it's not enough. Make it specific, make it personal to them. Try to identify a quality that they possess or a personality trait and/or characteristic that they possess that makes a difference to you. And if you can articulate how it makes a difference to you, the better. Okay, that was number 1, who are the people. Number 2, what were the times from 2021 that made you feel the most yourself? Typically for me, I will, I will answer this for you because this one I've given a lot of thought to. I generally feel the most me when I'm on a stage. And I'll be honest, as a Midwest nice girl, uh, growing up in the don't toot your own horn, that was kind of like, that was a major message that I got growing up. I always, I struggled a bit with like, what does that say about me if my favorite place to be is on a stage? But it's not because of me and that all eyes are on me. It's that when you're on a stage, you have a captive audience and they're there to engage with you. And so if I do my job as a speaker, that's what I'm doing. But in mass, I'm connecting with people about ideas. We aren't talking about, you know, who's sleeping with who, who's cheating on who. Like, it's not gossipy and it's not shallow and it's not, you know, void of meaning. It's like I get to talk about the things that light me up. And if I'm in the right room with the right people, they're also equally turned on by these kinds of discussions. And that is when, for me, like, time stands still. So as you think about that, I encourage you to think about the, the, you know, this would make a follow-up to that is, you know, was it because of what you were doing, who you were doing it with? Was it the place that you were in? Are aesthetics a big deal to you? Because they are to me, actually. Um, I, I get more inspired in certain places than in others. Was it the actual work that you were doing? What made it feel so good to you? And then of course, how do you cultivate more of that in 2022? Um, because man, I think if there's not one goal to just become more of you and put yourself in the way of doing things that feel the most like you, then what's, what's the actual point, right? Okay, number 3. Who are the loved ones in your life that you struggled to fully love this past year? So yes, I said the loved ones in your life that you struggled to fully love. And the reason I asked that is because, um, boundaries are something I am actively working on with my own therapist, and, um We don't put boundaries in place with people that we don't love. We put them in place with people we do love so that we can more fully love them. I would say that's probably one of the biggest fallacies when you hear the word boundaries. It sounds really ish-y, and I would love it if we could figure out a different word because I don't know, somehow that word has gotten charged, or it feels charged for people, but Boundaries are about setting clear, clear expectations and doing that out of love. Because when those boundaries are both set and then met, we can fully embrace and love that other person. It's really important. I shared with you earlier that my husband and my dad work together. I have not been great. We've been back in my hometown now for 12 years. I have not been great about setting boundaries with either of them. My husband or my father about what I'll discuss with them and what I won't. And, and again, that sounds harsh, and that sounds, um, it sounds— for me, I was like, well, that's so, um, bitchy, like, for lack of a better word. I'm just like, it's so like, oh, you— I will— I'm not available for those discussions. That just felt not good. But that's just my own crap again, and that's me blending blending my roles. Like, I, I can't, I can't hold everything from my husband, in particular if it's about my father, because then it makes me feel icky about my father. Vice and same, the vice versa, it's the same. Um, and by the way, my husband and my dad are not like, you know, tearing each other down left and right. It's just challenges, right? Challenges they have at work. And when they happen to be about each other, it always makes me feel like I'm in the middle of it, right? So boundaries are a way that I can I can set them. And then if I continue to make sure they're met, both whether it's through reinforcement with the person— and by the way, boundaries don't have to be set out loud to the other person for them to work. It can be something you set in your own mind. So I've shared this before with usually with women, because women, I feel like women, we struggle with this more than anybody. Maybe, maybe that's a stereotype. I don't know. I feel like more women in my world struggle with doing this. Than men do. You can set a boundary of time. So you can tell yourself, okay, I'm only going to spend half an hour with this person because I love them and I want them in my life. But I can't— when too much time goes by, I start to feel really drained and then I start to dislike being with them. Like in-laws, maybe. Again, I don't feel that way about my father-in-law at all, but I'm giving examples. You can have boundaries of topic. This is something I actually did too with my dad. I'm not going to share exactly the specifics of how it all went down. But there are certain topics that I really shouldn't talk about with him because as soon as he gets on a roll about that topic, I start to go, ugh, you know, this, and I get annoyed. I get annoyed and I get frustrated. So the thing, the best thing for me to do is just if we start going down that path, I can either change the subject, I can leave the conversation if I'm not the only person, you know, whatever. So topic can be one. Place can be a boundary that we put, that we set with somebody like If you know that you feel better engaging with that person when you're in your home versus theirs, or maybe it needs to be a neutral location, maybe it's public versus private, those are all things that we get to control so that we can better engage with that other person. And again, these things are, are stuff we put in place for people that we love. If we don't love them, we don't set boundaries. We just limit our time with them, period. Okay, and, um, I am not a therapist, so again, I'm gonna say I'm not a therapist, but these are things that I know I've had to do and I seek therapy to help with them. And so you're welcome, I'm trying to lower your therapy bill by sharing some of my therapeutics with you. But I will say there are times, and I know this has happened, where boundaries aren't enough. And you might really love that person and wish that person could be in your life, but no matter what boundaries you set, they either continue to get violated, or there's no amount of boundaries that make your love feel easy. In that case, please seek your own therapist and talk about what to do in that situation. Um, because again, I'm going to say it, loving people is not easy, and being human is not easy. All right. Oh my gosh, you guys, we're only on number 4. It's so funny, I was like, is this going to be valuable? And you know, when I tell you these things, I have no freaking idea. I know they matter to me. These are the things that help me process my big ideas, big heart, big feelings in a very small town. So we'll take that for what it is. Number 4, here's a fun and light one. What makes you laugh harder than anything else? And then find a way to create more of that in 2022. Because man, if laughter is not one of the most underrated ways to just be a better human, I don't, I don't know what is. Number 5, um, this I will share that this came directly out of our podcast with the Dakota Dirt founders, 2 of the 3 of them. Um, I loved it so much that it's become something I'm asking myself, and I probably will do this set of 10 questions, um, at least quarterly going through 2022, um, because stuff changes really fast for a lot of us. So this is the question: what do you love to do and who do you love to spend time with? And then what interesting ways could those two things be brought together? That is how these boys started— boys, they're young, they're a lot younger than me, so I get to call them boys— this is how they started Dakota Dirt Coffee. They thought about like, what do we love? We love coffee. Who do we love to be with? My— and one, the two of them are brothers, and once their lifelong best friend from you know, their childhood, and they started a coffee company, a roasting company. We'll link to the show notes on this one. But I think that's such a fun way to think about either side hustles or hobbies. Like, hell, what do you love to do? I don't know. Do you love to paint? Great. Who do you love to spend time with? Call that person up and say, let's go paint something. And that might sound super stupid, but it's absolutely not because there are people that energize us. There are people that drain us. There are things that energize us. There are things that drain us. If you can couple a person and a thing together that you both truly cherish and love, do that. Number 6, this is a challenging one. What triggered you in 2021? As in, what made you feel defensive, offended, upset, hurt, pissed off, angry, kind of What were the negative— like, what things happened that caused an immediate negative reaction in you? Um, then here's a couple follow-ups for you. What was it specifically that made you feel that way? Again, was it the person? Was it the topic? Sometimes we need to dig deep because there's usually something there if we're feeling triggered. Anger is not a primary emotion. Um, I actually knew that before my therapist reminded me of that because We're going through some stuff. She's like, you know, how was this last week? And I'm like, I'm feeling just kind of pissed off at everybody. And she's like, okay, so anger is not a primary emotion. And I'm like, I know. Can you imagine trying to therapize me? Oh my goodness, the poor woman. Anyway, I realized that, and I'll tell you, I didn't always know that when I was younger, especially like when I was still living under my parents' roof. I was at home I really struggled to differentiate between feeling sad, disappointed, frustrated, hurt in particular. Hurt was a really hard one. Shame, embarrassment. I had a hard time differentiating any of those things from just being angry, and I always went to angry. I do think there's reasons for that. I think societally, I think we tend to know what to do with anger because we can yell back, we can walk away, we can dismiss the person as crazy. Like, whatever. There seems to be ways that we kind of go, oh yeah, well, we know what to do with that. But if somebody cries in front of you, or if you hurt somebody's feelings and they tell you, like, that really hurt, we aren't as adept. Um, so I think this is just like a collective, uh, societal, society-level thing we can all get better at. So what was it specifically that made you feel that way? And then what shifts can you make in 2022 so that you see less of that? Or you put yourself again, like, thinking about those than those events, sometimes we put ourselves in the situation to bring that about. So what kinds of shifts could you make so that you're not standing in front of that thing all the time? And I know that that's not easy. There was a lot to feel triggered by in 2021, potentially. And I don't even particularly love the word triggered, but I sometimes call it flooded. I get flooded and it's like immediate. And it feels like a tsunami, like a tsunami of emotion just crashes over me, and then I can't breathe, and I'm struggling to climb to the surface. That's what it feels like to me. Triggered, I think people probably get a little more. But again, this is one of those things that, yeah, there's a lot of stuff to be upset about, no doubt. We still have choices that we get to make. And so that's the question is, you know, what was it that made you feel that way? Was it a person? Was it the thing? Was it the topic? And then what do you need to do? What shifts can you make? Okay, we're on number 7, 4 to go. Uh, I love this question because I care about place so much. Um, what do you truly love about the place where you live? Now here again, it could be, um, if context of what you really do this kind of reflection about isn't so much just home life or your community like it is for me, maybe it's your workplace. Like, what do you truly love about that place? And what can you do in 2022 to fall even more in love with your place? I will tell you this, the genesis of this question came directly from our most recent episode with Winona and Tim from Roll Call. They are two of my favorite new humans of 2021. People came into my life this year that just have expanded so much. That's also why I'm in therapy. It's like, I feel sometimes like I'm outgrowing myself. Which sounds really dumb, but it's like I just took 10 years of growth and just slammed it into 1 year. And it's a lot to process. And then it feels like I don't belong anywhere. And that's tricky. That was a side note you guys did not need. They asked the question, or they talked about the fact that loving your place, loving your community is an action that you have to take daily. So thinking about the process of actively falling in love with your community or your place? What does that look like for you? Because I do think it's important, especially for those of us that are in any sort of community work or development kind of work. Number 8, oh, this is a good question too. Who did you give your power to in 2021? And I'm just going to say it, your power belongs in your hands. I will— I know I've shared this before, but it's been a really long time. So I'm going to revisit this. But I was in a yoga class, gosh, probably like 4 years ago or better now. And we were doing a guided meditation at the end. And the instructor was talking about imagining in our hands is a scepter. And that scepter, like, if you think of what a scepter looks like, it's kind of regal. It's— it has a powerful feeling and look. And she talked about imagining. So I'm going to do this little guided meditation with you right now, I guess. And put on my guided meditation voice. I'm just kidding. Uh, imagining the weight of the scepter in your hand, and now you imagine walking up to somebody and just handing the scepter of power over to them. And that's your personal power. You know, how does it feel to know that that's what— that it's, it's that exact thing is saying, this is what gives me This is what makes me who I am. This is my own agency, if you will, in giving that over to somebody else. I've done this a lot, not in— not just in 2021, but in my entire life. And in fact, I think this is one of the big challenges of, again, being human is that challenge of saying, okay, I'm in the center of all of these roles that I play and all these ways that I have to show up for people. And I say have to because some of them are have-tos, damn it. Like, I know nobody wants me to shit all over myself, but I'm telling you, like, I'm a mom. I have to show up for those kids, right? And I'm not saying that's a problem. I'm just saying it's true. So the hardest thing is figuring out, like, how much am I letting everybody and their expectations of me pull me away from my peace from my contentment, from my knowing, like, who I am, from the truth of who I am. And that's hard, man. That's hard. But that's what I would suggest is, is your power. So as you think about this question, who did you give your power to in 2021? Was it temporary? Again, was it situational? Was it— are there certain situations you find yourself in where you're always relinquishing your power? When do you feel powerful? That be the flip side of that, right? To help you kind of get a handle on this, because, um, again, when we feel powerless, we feel like victims, and when we feel like victims, we do nobody any good, to include ourselves. Okay, number 9: In what ways did you beautifully serve in 2021, and in what situations did you serve merely out of guilt? This comes down to, again, the fact that when you're a doer, you're going to get asked to do things. I don't know if you guys were aware of that, but that's how it works. When you're capable, you're going to get asked to do a lot of stuff. And I have a whole workshop on how to say no in a graceful way because, again, the fact is we're going to be running into these people that we have to turn down everywhere we go, like every time we turn around. And saying no is so hard. And it's not supposed to be hard. It's just a simple little 2-letter word. Ask your favorite 2-year-old. They have no trouble with this at all. Just kids in general. God, they're my favorite. They're like, um, no. You're like, hey, do you want to come with me to a movie? No. They don't want to. They say no. If there's something I could preserve in children so that we don't conform that out of them, that would absolutely be one of the things. But the reason I asked the first part of this question as I did is because I truly believe that when we say yes to things that are in alignment with both our true motivations and our gifts, then it's beautiful service. Right? I'm serving because I want to and because I actually believe I have something to contribute to the situation. When I say yes because I'm afraid of what people will think of me or because I want to make sure everybody knows that I'm a giver, or anything that's about what other people need, want, or think, then that's not beautiful service. And I've said this before, I'll say it again, um, when we say yes to things that aren't meant for us to do, we rob the intended or better recipient of that opportunity. And again, I work and live and play in, in a very small town, and And so I understand the need for volunteers, okay? I get it. But I really do think that sometimes we need to rethink our entire approach to getting people to volunteer, maybe scrap your lists, like your project lists, and how you think it's all supposed to be and go and that perfection that you have. And like the perfect little system and just say, pull together 5 people that are interested in seeing that thing happen and say, how would you do it? What do we want to get done? And there's some messiness and some chaos that comes with that, but it's about letting people contribute in the way that they're capable. And again, that's kind of another sidebar. This is about us and the way we contribute our own gifts. So in what ways did you beautifully serve and in what situations did you serve out of guilt? And finally, number 10: What made you truly proud in 2021? Because if there's not a time to— I mean, if it's not the end of the year as the time to look back and say, gosh, I'm so proud of myself for this. And again, this is from a person that grew up believing, you know, that let other people toot your horn because it'll blow louder, or whatever the hell that phrase is. Humility is super important. Modesty is super important, but this is about doing good work and being able to say, look, you know, I'm proud of what we accomplished and I accomplished. It's okay to be proud of yourself, for heaven's sake, right? And then as you think about all of these things, thinking about what truly made you proud, thinking about where you feel beautifully served, it gives us an opportunity to kind of reset priorities. For the coming year. And if the entire year is too much, take it a quarter at a time. I do much better with short bursts anyway, and I think partly that's because I believe in the value of iteration. I believe in the value of trying something, and if it sucks and doesn't work, you scrap it and try something new, or you tweak it so that it works better. I just— not that a year-long plan or 3- and 5-year plans aren't valuable. I don't feel that way at all. But I just think that stuff changes really fast. And if we hold really tight to a year-long plan because it's what we said we were going to do and we're not taking a whole set of external circumstances into account, then we're seriously missing an opportunity to change with what's going on around us and in a beneficial way. So friends, that's what I am thinking about. In at the— as we come to the end, and again, you're, you're hearing this and we're already into 2022. I'm recording this the week prior. I've been thinking about these things a lot. There's one quote that I want to share with you that I came across in reviewing some materials from a conference I was at earlier this year, and there's probably a number of ways you can take this, but I'm going to share my take on it. So this This quote is from Mark Twain, and he says, "The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read." And so what— I mean, again, you can clearly hear what he's saying, that the inability to do something, you know, does not put you at any more of a disadvantage over someone who has the ability and chooses not to use it, right? So one of my takeaways and applications of that quote is this idea of having God-given gifts and talents. Being capable of doing something means nothing if you're not willing to use it. What were you created to be? Who were you created to be? And what were you created to do? To share, to offer, to love. You're unique. There is, uh, there's only one you. I mean, I realize you get this, but I don't think we stop and really think about this enough. When you think about that, who you were created to be, what you were created to do, what were you— you were created to share and offer and love. What if your commitment to 2022 was simply to do more of that? I only want to use what I've been given in only the way that I can give them. My talents and my skills are mine alone, and especially the way that I use them. And that's what I hope for every single one of you as well. And when I think about this, I actually get verklempt, which I stated is my, you know, it's my self-proclaimed favorite feeling. I get a little lump in my throat when I think about the impact in a town like mine, 1,800 people. If more of us were showing up fully as ourselves, giving what we've been given to give, and in the way that only we can give them. I imagine just a bunch of bright lights turning on, and that's, that's what I call being turned on to who we are, to what we can give. And that's what I hope. That's what I hope for me, and that's what I hope for my family. That's what I hope for my community. That's certainly what I hope for you. And so with that, I wish you the very best as we start this new year together. I want to, of course, extend my deep gratitude. This has been quite a year for me personally and for this entire agenda of, you know, platform of Growing Small Towns. It has been a phenomenal experience and I cherish every single note, every single, you know, direct message, every single Instagram message that I get about this podcast and about the work. I cherish every single bit of feedback that I get from you. And so I encourage you to share, share with me what you love, what you want to see more of. If you know somebody I should talk to, if you know— I, I just believe that we're this rich, amazing network, and, and I truly believe that after this year. So if you know those people and you think I should know them, I trust you and I take that seriously. And some of my favorite people have been from that question. So don't hesitate, reach out, let us know who we should talk to, who you would love to hear on this show. And with that, I will just again remind you that you are uniquely and wonderfully made, and only you can give the things that you have. And I hope that you will find a million ways to bless the world with your beautiful gifts in 2022. We'll talk soon, friends.