2023 Closing: Triangulate

Thought I’d try closing out the year somewhat differently this time. Rather than leaving it to the final few calendar days I started my personal review of 2023 on 1st December and will continue to develop it over the month. In a way, I’m treating December as a Dave Gorman intermission between 2023 and 2024. I’ll make a few posts to both clarify and solidify my thoughts on a significant events that took place in 2023. I hope you enjoy the ride.

Let’s start at the very beginning…

My Theme for 2023 is “Triangulate” and if you’ve seen my quarterly check-ins (Q1, Q2, Q3) you are well aware that I had trouble fitting it in my life. My assumption was that I would use the different areas of my life to Triangulate my next direction in any given context but it never felt quite right.

I am happy to report that I think I finally got it. I am even happier to report that I really like how it’s fitting.

So here’s what happened: in the final quarter of the year I had something disappointing happen to me. Cognitively it wasn’t all that bad (and in many ways was even good) but emotionally I was so down I practically stayed in bed the following day. After a good 24 hours of sulking it suddenly occurred to me that I could try using my annual theme so I asked myself “What do the different parts of want to do given this disappointing event?

My Mind didn’t want to stay “here” because the story isn’t over; it wanted to move on to the next thing. My Emotions didn’t have anywhere it wanted to go but it didn’t want to be “here” because it was uncomfortable. My Body didn’t feel like going anywhere; it metaphorically sat down and said “I’m so tired, I am not moving!”

At first glance all 3 appear to have conflicting agendas which would explain the internal conflict I was feeling. However they were also coherent in that I could see they had a common goal: they had my best interest at heart. It was clear to me that I needed to wrangle them together and come up with something that everyone agreed with and in this particular situation it was slowing down and allowing myself to do whatever I felt like doing whether that was working on the next project, spending time on a hobby or mindlessly watching YouTube.

And just like that I found where Triangulate fit. I used it again to handle an old, troubling memory that re-surfaced and I really like how this simple technique is helping me. Three cheers for Triangulate!

To be fair, I had the right idea but incorrectly assumed it would work better by directing the big picture. I never imagined how effective it would be when used at a grassroots level.