2022 - Year of Experience Review

In case you missed it at the beginning of the year, for me, this is the year of experience. As usual, this the end of the year review to see how we did.

What did we want to see again?

The goal here was to try new things, be present in the things that we were involved in. Cut the crap out of the life as much as possible. Make some improvements and experience more of life. Here are some of the experiences of 2022. The good, the bad, and often ugly.

Crossing Over

My son crossed over from cub scouts to BSA (Formerly known as Boy Scouts of America). While this was his experience of crossing over, seeing the changes and the growth over the last year. It was also a transition for me. For the past 3 years I had been his den leader. Through the pandemic, seeing the den go from 11 down to 3 and eventually growing back up to 5. It was odd not to be in the leadership role for the first time as we started to experience all the things of the new troop. But, also very welcomed for at least a short while.

Camping

It has been a bit since I was in scouts so regular camping for me has been a thing that we don’t do as a family that often. But its been a nice experience to get back into the habit and shake off some of the rust of my outdoor skills.

Work / Life Balance

This year I was challenged with growing my team and taking on a challenging and very important project at work. This has taken a big toll on me honestly. My sleep is worse than it has ever been. I’ve managed the stress to a point, but there have been some rough patches where the work / life balance has been quite out of whack.

I did do something this year that helped me greatly. I set a goal to take 1 week off a quarter. It has worked out pretty well so far. My only flaw was in the second half of the year which I took a week in July and I’m just wrapping up two weeks at the end of December. This was a HUGE gap that I need to plan better for in the future.

School

This was an odd one. All my boys started the school year at the same time, in person, in only two schools (I have 3 boys, 2 are twins). This should have been something that happened a year earlier but the stupid pandemic threw a wrench in that plan.

Its been great seeing them all grow and especially Evan who has special needs. As a parent, you want your kiddos to be included. Hearing stories of Evan starting a small ring a round the rosy game on the play ground that started with 3 and grew to 40 kiddos. I don’t think we have much to worry about.

A new scout

I wasn’t going to take off too long as a leader for cub scouts. My youngest joined. While he is a twin and Evan could join as well, we didn’t think that he would fully grasp everything this year so we have him only attend when it seems appropriate. But his brother is enjoying it so far and growing in his scouting journey as well. I’m also learning why I never taught young kids. They’re a handful and I only have 6 Kindergarten aged kids.

Layoffs

Luckily, I was spared and so was my immediate team that I support. But the company for the first time went through a massive layoff. While this is not the first time that this has happened in my career, it was a bit too close to home now that I’m towards the later part of my career and the sole bread winner of the family. Insurance is a big benefit for my family.

Overall Grade: Success

Did a learn something new? Not necessarily. I didn’t accomplish all that I wanted. But I did grow quite a bit in my professional life and hopefully have made stronger connections with each of my kids, my family and friends. It has been a time of reconnecting and trying new things. One that I can hope continues into 2023.

On to the new year!