The December Pause

December is an peculiar month. At first, everything speeds up: deadlines multiply, inboxes swell, and the pressure to wrap things up intensifies. Then, almost suddenly, it slows down. Pressure eases, and with it comes an invitation to slow down, look back, and ask an important question:

Where am I actually going?

I’ve come to see December as a natural pause point; an opportunity for deep reflection. Not because the calendar says so, but because the year itself asks to be examined. Eleven months of choices, habits, compromises, risks, and small victories sit behind us, whether we acknowledge them or not. Taking time to reflect on them is not indulgent; it’s responsible.

I learned this the hard way. There was a period in my life when I avoided reflection entirely. I thought forward motion was enough. It wasn’t. When my businesses were in trouble and debt mounted, I was forced to stop and look honestly at the gap between my ambitions and my reality. Reflection helped me reassess my direction, realign my identity, and choose a more sustainable path.

The cost of not reflecting is subtle but severe. Without reflection, we drift. We repeat patterns without understanding them. We stay busy while slowly misaligning our lives from what we actually value. Over time, that drift compounds, until we wake up one day living a life we never consciously chose.

So, dear reader, if you can, take a small December pause. Find a quiet moment and look back at your year with honesty. Reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and what you learned about yourself along the way. Write it down: writing forces clarity. It externalises thought, exposes faulty assumptions, and reveals patterns that remain invisible when they stay trapped in the mind.

Then look forward, not with pressure or grand resolutions, but with intention. Reflection might not give you certainty, but it will give you direction, and this may be the most valuable thing you can carry into the year ahead.

In the spirit of this article, I’ll be taking a break from blogging for the remaining weeks of December to realign. I’ll be back in January with some fresh perspectives on life. If you are celebrating the holidays, enjoy them.

Until next year,

Ric.