Episode #423 – Give this Year the Ending it Deserves

This is episode 423 of the Brilliant Balance Podcast, and today we’re going to give this year the ending it deserves. Well, hello, friends. Thanks for pressing play today.

I don’t know what it’s like in your house, but I just finished putting up our holiday decorations this week. A little later than most people, maybe, because I’m always in the camp of people who wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate.

I just don’t want to shortchange one holiday because I’m already onto the next. So for me, our Thanksgiving table is this kind of homage to fall. You know, I want pumpkins by the front door. I want all of that fall color palette around me on that day.

And then literally the day after, I’m ready to sort of wave the magic wand and have everything transform into “holiday.” And it is one of my favorite days of the year, I think, to watch that transformation take place.

I know this is highly controversial. There are very strong opinions on both sides. So you do you. I have a very dear friend who decorates the day after Halloween, I think.

And she also takes her stuff down really early. So we all have the opportunity to do this our way. But I kind of feel the same way about the month of December that I do about holiday décor and Thanksgiving.

I mean, if we rush into thinking about and planning for the new year too early, we can turn December into an on-ramp for the new year, and then it doesn’t get its own time in the sun. We can miss two things: we can miss the opportunity to really finish this particular year strong,

And we also can miss some of the magic that the present moment has in store for us. And there is always plenty of magic in the present moment, but maybe never more than there is in December. So before I take this podcast into helping you start dreaming about what’s next—which we will do—I really want to talk about how to give this year the ending that it deserves.

There is a particular short four-word mantra that has been so powerful in my life over the years: Be where you are.

And those four words, be where you are, have guided me through so many seasons with more grace, more presence, more of an ability to stay grounded and let the future come to me.

And that’s a little bit of the energy that I want to bring to this episode. Because as this episode airs, there’s still a whole month left in this year. And a month is a long time. A lot can happen in a month.

You’re probably already starting to hear or say, “Oh, let’s circle back in the new year,” right? And I get it. You may really be feeling the pull to just call it on this one for lots of reasons. Maybe it wasn’t a great year.

Maybe it feels overwhelming. Maybe you’re feeling energized by looking ahead to next year, to what could be, and you’re ready to put this year behind you. But before we do that—and I know how tempting it is—I want to ask: have you asked yourself one simple but very powerful question?

Here it is: How will I give this year the ending it deserves?

And I’m choosing each word of this very carefully. I’m going to offer up three very different but equally valid pathways for how you might do this—how you might think about it—because not every season, not every year, calls for the same ending.

I think that’s something that, within the Brilliant Balance ecosystem, we’re really talking about a lot these days. There is great variability in the seasons of life, the seasons of our careers, the seasons of our family lives that call upon different energies. And that’s definitely true as we get into the end of this year. So three pathways that I’m going to talk about today for how you might really give this year—your year—the ending that it deserves.

The first pathway might be finishing strong. Finishing well might mean finishing strong. Maybe you can look at the things that you said you wanted to complete this year and think, “You know what? I can still do this.

I still have time.” This is like when I used to run marathons. I think about those last few miles, and there are times where you’re like, “I am going to hit that goal time for this. I’m going to dig in. No matter how much it hurts, I’m going to get there.”

And that is the energy of finishing strong. Maybe you told yourself you were going to get that guest room organized before your in-laws arrived. Maybe you were going to finish that certification for work. Maybe you were going to get yourself off of that volunteer board that you’ve been on for way too long. There are so many things that you might have, at the beginning of this year, said, “I am going to do.”

And if they aren’t done yet, sometimes honoring your word to yourself—really staying in integrity to that—feels incredible. Not because you should or you have to, but because there is a quiet satisfaction in saying, “I did what I said I was going to do.”

And it doesn’t mean there has to be a heroic push. I’m not talking about skipping the holidays like you’re in some kind of boot camp. But there is still room for choosing one or two or three meaningful things and bringing them to completion—really getting them across the finish line—before this particular year closes.

So if you’re listening today and you think, “That’s it, I really need to dig in and finish strong,” then you want to clear some space for that. You want to be clear that the next year is going to have to wait. You’re going to stay focused on this year and these deliverables and the scorecard or the goals that you’d established. And you’re not going to allow yourself to get distracted by all the bright, shiny things in the year ahead.

You’re really going to double down on completing and see what that feels like. See what it feels like to reach the end and actually get the “I did it” energy.

The second pathway that you can take is to call it—just calling it and choosing to move into an in-between space where you can have some rest and rejuvenation before you gear up for the next year.

So if you are listening, thinking, “You know what? Finishing well looks like, to me, calling it,” really just deciding, “I’ve done what I’m going to do this year. I really need to have some downtime where I am not focused on hustling and competing and kind of grinding it out through the end of the year,” then I want to give you full permission to do that.

There are some years that ask us to finish strong, and there are other years that ask us to soften. And by the way, I have had both. I have had both in recent history.

So if your year has been heavy or emotional or full of unexpected twists, then choosing rest actually is the brave choice. Maybe in that case, if you’re choosing that pathway, you close your laptop a little earlier.

It’s dark anyhow, right? Maybe you let a goal or two or three go intentionally instead of dragging it into December like it’s dead weight behind you, and out of some sort of sense of misguided duty you feel like you have to finish it.

Maybe you decide that you’re going to really leverage all of the quietude of this season to be more peaceful, more reflective, more intentional for you.

There are places to go during this season of December that are very upbeat. We call it “holly jolly” for a reason. There’s a lot of places to go to get a lot of upbeat energy. But there are also a number of quiet, reflective spaces that you can lean into in this season if that’s what feels like it’s a match.

So there’s no shame in saying, “Hey, the version of me who started this year thinking it was going to end one way learned a few things, got handed a few curveballs, and I am not going to try to hold myself to the particular set of goals, the vision of success, that I had back in January. I am going to redefine. I’m just going to call it, and I’m going to give myself a chance to rest.” And sometimes that is the most aligned, most courageous thing that you can do. I think it’s also rare.

For the listenership of this podcast in particular, I think that’s a rare choice for us to make intentionally. Sometimes we get dragged into that choice. We know, “I have no choice.”

I had a client last year—God love her—who fell down her stairs, ended up in a boot, needed surgery. The holidays looked really different. The whole month of December was very different. And a lot of things had to be accommodated, right? Because when we get pulled into a crisis like that—when we have an injury or an illness or a loss—then it’s pretty clear that I’m going to have to redefine the terms. I’m going to have to say, “You know what? This is not going to happen.”

But I think for us to do it willingly—for us to say, “Hey, I need some relief from the expectations that I set for myself”—that is powerful.

It’s powerful.

And the third pathway—because of course there’s three—that you could choose is something in between. For many of you, it will probably be something in between.

You’re not going to push full steam ahead, but you’re not checking out either. You’re going to redefine what finishing well looks like for you. And I’ll give you another marathon analogy here.

In the days when I was training for marathons, my best friend, who was a much more experienced runner than I, said, “Hey, at about mile 20 in every race, you are going to redefine what victory looks like for you.”

I went into every race with a goal time. I knew what I thought I wanted to do. And she’s like, “By about mile 20, you know: is this the race where I’m going to push for that, or is this one where I have to pick a new version of success that I can be equally excited about at mile 26.2?”

And so this year can be sort of the same. Maybe instead of completing all five projects that are still undone, you choose the most important one and decide that that’s where you’re going to connect your energy.

Maybe it looks like entering January with fewer open tabs—literally and metaphorically. Maybe you have to tie up some loose ends so that you can exhale.

I was thinking about this in my team. There are just some systems—particularly our Google Drive and our CRM software—that are overloaded with things that we just don’t use anymore.

Old files we’re not accessing, old email campaigns that aren’t being used, and they’re all in there. It just starts to feel heavy. It’s like the same feeling you have when you know you need to clean out your closet or you open a drawer in your kitchen and you’re like, “How did I end up with four zesters? I don’t need these.”

This is really a good time of year to think about: where can I choose a middle path toward alignment? What would feel good to me to do right now?

Not what you “should” do, but really what feels right to you. What are you feeling called toward in this particular season?

So there are a few weeks left. If you look at your calendar and you actually are going to take some time off at the end of the month, you might only have a few weeks left where you’re really in the office working at a normal pace. I know that’s true for me.

And so this middle ground—where you’re able to redefine what it looks like to finish this year well—is available to you. And here’s the beautiful part:

Whichever path you choose—finish strong, call it, or find the middle—it really all just comes down to tiny, realistic steps. Wrapping up that lingering task that you’ve been avoiding since June.

Making that single phone call that you’ve just been dreading. Carving out one extra hour of quiet where you can just sip your coffee slowly or get outside for a walk.

Those small steps are going to help you finish this year with intentionality, with grace, instead of a grand finale. And so this week, before we get into planning and goal setting and mapping out the next chapter, I just want you to notice. Just as a light reflection—there’s nothing heavy here—just a few simple questions that you can carry with you as you’re paying attention to how you’re going to wrap up this year.

What am I ready to release?

Every year leaves us with something that we just don’t need anymore. Maybe it’s a habit, a pattern, some kind of commitment that we’re white-knuckling our way through.

Just notice what wants to be left behind so that you can wrap that up as the year ends.

And then: What’s unfinished that I would be proud to complete?

Not pressured to complete, not obligated to complete, but proud to complete. And that question will probably point you toward the one or two wins that will make your December feel meaningful.

You don’t have to overhaul anything. You don’t have to make a plan or “get your life together.” We’re just starting to let our hearts and our minds soften into clarity.

The decisions—the brave ones—are going to come later. And over the next few weeks, I am going to be guiding you through some deeper reflection, because we always do as the year ends, through some clarity, some vision-setting, so you can really step into the new year with a sense of direction.

And, my friends, I have been quietly building something really, really special that I’m going to preview a little for you today and share with you in earnest in the new year.

It’s called Brave. And Brave was really born from a simple idea: I don’t think you need more information per se. What I think a lot of you need is more support, more structure, and maybe more self-trust so you can start making the right choices for you.

We talked a lot about that today—how do you decide which of those pathways is right for you? And I think a lot of us don’t trust ourselves to make those choices week after week. I keep hearing from listeners who say, “I love the podcast.” We have a lot of great podcast listeners—shout out to all of you. I am so grateful that you listen to this show. But they’re saying, “I wish I had a place to practice this, to talk through my choices.

To have some support, to actually implement the things that I’m hearing about on the show in real time.”

And on the other side of the coin, we have Bold. And Bold has been this incredible, really high-touch space for women leaders, but it’s limited. It’s limited in size. It’s limited in accessibility. To me, the timing of it—honestly—not everyone is ready for that level of commitment.

So I really started to feel drawn to building a kind of middle space. A really powerful, supportive space to help you stop second-guessing yourself about knowing what’s right for you and actually start doing it. And I wanted there to be a system where you could take all the kinds of things you’ve learned in the podcast—about how to run your week your way, how to do it your way—and have a system that you can follow, and then be in a circle of women who are practicing the same skills.

With some access to guidance. When you hit a crossroads or you feel stuck, I think it’s important to have some expert advice in there for you, because that’s really what changes your life: when you have the confidence to make choices—big ones, small ones, everything in between—that are really aligned with your dreams.

They’re really aligned with the season that you’re in. They’re really aligned with what you want your life to look like. So Brave is designed to help you do that one choice at a time.

So here’s the cool thing: we already have this. We quietly—very quietly—opened it up to our alumni of Brilliant Balance programs, people who had done coaching programs with us over the years, in October.

And I’ve been getting to watch this thing come to life. And honestly, it’s been just beautiful. I love being with these women inside of this, today, very small community, and we are getting ready to open the doors more broadly. So today what I want you to do is, if you think you want to be a part of this thing from the very beginning—if you want to be among the very first to step into this new era with us—I want you to get on the waitlist so you don’t miss when we do the grand opening in January.

And you can do that by going to brilliant-balance.com/brave. I’ll link it in the show notes, of course. That is the easiest thing to do to stay in touch. You can read a little bit about what we’re up to on that page. And nothing that I say on that page will really make it make sense until you’re actually inside.

It’s so impossible—it’s like going from black and white to color, or 2D to 3D—to really bring this thing to life from the outside. So we’ll talk about how to do that when we’re really ready to open the doors, but you can get a little bit of a feel at brilliant-balance.com/brave.

This has been consuming a lot of my energy and creativity and headspace, and it’s just been a thousand percent worth it. So for now, let’s finish this year really well, okay? I don’t want you to rush the ending.

There’s still so much waiting for you in December—in everything from the goals that you can check “done” on the plan that you built months ago, to taking in those quiet moments amid twinkling lights that are finally up, even if you live in a house like mine,

And maybe the chance to exhale before we begin everything again.

So that is all for today, my friends. Until next time, let’s be brilliant.