THANKS for doing that
A podcast CELEBRATING people and ideas that make this world a better place by exploring the things we do, the reasons we do them, and why IT MATTERS.
THANKS for doing that
THANKS for that, 2024 - 10 Things that Brought Delight this Past Year
A celebration of 10 delights from 2024 and an encouragement to look back in order to get some perspective as we move forward.
• Sharing the joy found in Muji pens
• Celebrating the journey of starting a solo podcast
• Highlighting kids' creativity through family experiences
• The friendship and connection fostered within a book club
• Finding joy in writing haikus
• Appreciation for national parks and natural beauty
• Convenience of grocery delivery in a busy household
• Cherishing conversations and connections through podcasting
• Embracing the relaxed mindset of sui bian
• The importance of curating input for deeper reflection
Catch more of the story @thanks.for.doing.that.podcast!
Hey there and welcome back to Thanks for Doing that a podcast celebrating people and ideas that make this world a better place. My name is Heather Winchell and I am the host and chief enthusiast, and today's episode will be a bit different. I've decided that to kick off 2025, I'd like to share 10 things that brought delight in 2024. My husband and I have been talking a lot about our need to continually set our attention on the things that bring awe and wonder and beauty and delight. We've actually talked about even dedicating a wall in our home as a wall of wonder, just kind of like a landing place to mark all of the good. We really think that in the midst of a very broken world, all of us desperately need to remember the good and let ourselves pause in gratitude. So that's part of the reason I wanted to just take a moment and call out the good and delightful from 2024. And I have 10 things to share and they are not in any particular order, but the first I'm going to talk about is Muji pens M-U-J-I. Okay, so this isn't technically a 2024 find.
Speaker 1:I have been using Muji pens for several years. I think I got my first one when I was in Thailand several years ago for a conference for my work, but they are certainly one of the small joys of my life. I mean, writing with these pens is one of my favorite things. I prefer the 0.38 tips. They have a really fine point and I actually now buy them on Amazon. They are a little bit pricier than your average pen, but trust me when I say that it is worth it.
Speaker 1:The next delight I started another podcast and I say another because I've actually been podcasting for about three years for my job and that has been so much fun. However, thanks for doing that is my first solo venture and it has been also a lot of fun and also a lot of work. But here's the thing I find so much delight in following through on something I purposed to do and not because I had to do it, because it just brings me joy, and I think I've mentioned this before, but I am mom and crisis management officer and chief executive officer to our family of six within our home and then outside of our home. I work part-time with a global nonprofit and I love the work I do both in and out of the home and it actually keeps me quite busy. So finding spare time really seems hard to come by. I think probably a lot of you can relate to that. Being an adult in the 21st century America is just busy, as a default, it seems. But fighting to make this podcast happen has been so worth it. It helps tremendously that my husband, whom I affectionately refer to as Handsome man, is my biggest fan and supporter, and I'll just take this moment to thank him personally for the nights and the weekend hours that he's gifted me to do my thing while he has wrangled our four boys. He has also, I should say, talked me out of it every time I've said I'm going to quit, which honestly, typically happens most nights after 8 pm. Suffice it to say. Handsome man, your support has been wind in my sails and your wisdom has been banks to my river, so thank you All right.
Speaker 1:So the next thing on my list is the creativity of my kids. So in 2024, my second son, named Hudson, started designing experiences for the whole family that he called Hudson Fun, and these experiences have been wide-ranging. They've included escape rooms, arcade nights and even board games to play as a family. In fact, last night we played a game that he designed and gave to Handsome man for Christmas called Lab Escape. Note that that is escape spelled with a K, not a C, not sure if that was intentional or because he's in third grade, but either way it was a lot of fun and I was just so proud of him for the creativity and the investment of his time. And the other really cool thing is that Hudson has not only invested his time but he has actually used his fun money. You know, like his allowance money he gets for pulling weeds and things to buy little props for his games Like he bought dice to use in his games and he bought a claw machine like a legit claw machine to use as a prop for the arcade night. And that has just really leveled up his creations. And, honestly, the best part of all of it is that they're actually legitimately fun and he is just one really cool kid.
Speaker 1:Also, this year my three oldest sons started making movies. So they record on an iPad and then they do some editing in iMovie. And you know they do have some work to do around developing their story, making sure their lighting is good, making sure that they are heard on camera when they say their lines. So there's all sorts of ways that they're growing in this new art form, but it has been so fun and such a delight to watch them go for it and to gain new skills and to just learn by trying. And if you're a parent, you know that there are all kinds of hopes and dreams you have for your kids that just well kind of fall flat. You know, raising kids is an unpredictable ride and it's best to hold expectations loosely. But this our kids' continual movement towards creativity feels like a win for us. We have tried to keep instruments and art supplies at their ready their whole life, hoping to encourage and foster a creative vibe whole life hoping to encourage and foster a creative vibe and it feels like it's worked, it feels like we've done it, and that is no small amount of delight.
Speaker 1:Okay, so the next thing on my list is my book club. So I have been gathering monthly with the same three women over a book since the summer of 2023. But 2024 was a great year, both for our books and Deep in Friendship, and you will get a little taste of the flavor of this book club in the new year, as I'm actually producing an episode for the podcast called Thanks for Doing that Book Club Edition. But for now I just want to speak to the delight it has been to not only get more time with these amazing women, all of whom I've known since college, which is a long time, but I also just really love that. Being part of a book club invites me into reading books that I probably wouldn't read otherwise. On more than one occasion I've been delightfully surprised by how much I appreciated a book, despite my initial reservations, and, like I said, more to come on the actual books in the upcoming episode, but I will just say that my favorite read of 2024 was Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard.
Speaker 1:Okay, the fifth delight I want to bring before you is writing haikus. You guys, haikus, in my opinion, are the perfect blend of creativity and structure. It has seriously become one of the ways that I capture memories or reflect on my day, and I'm pretty sure that a serious poet might look down their nose at me, but I just do not care. It is to me a free, simple joy that I do not see going away anytime soon, and for that I am super grateful. We are halfway there and my next delight is national parks. I am so grateful that part of our country's priorities included setting aside protected land for the enjoyment of all. Granted that it is getting a bit harder to actually access these public lands because there are so many people wanting to enjoy them, but still I am so grateful for these pockets of creation that are scattered around North America. This year, our family stayed a bit closer to home and played in the Rocky Mountains and in South Dakota, and in both cases it was just such a gift and I am so continually grateful to have such beautiful protected spaces practically in our backyard spaces practically in our backyard.
Speaker 1:Okay, very different from that, but still a delight I experienced in 2024, was Walmart grocery delivery. In this season of life, I can't imagine not having this luxury, and, make no mistake, it is a luxury. With a household of one man and four growing boys, food is a pretty central resource and one that can vanish quickly, especially peanut butter. Those boys go through an impressive and, honestly, somewhat alarming amount of peanut butter per week. Granted, grocery delivery can be a hit or miss experience at times on the produce quality, but as a whole, getting groceries delivered same day to my door at an affordable price, well, that has definitely been a delight.
Speaker 1:Okay, number eight podcasting conversations. Maybe this feels like cheating, because I've already talked about starting a podcast as one of my 10, but this is categorically different. I am proud of myself for taking the idea forward and I am so deeply thankful for the people that I've met along the way in the conversations that we have had. One of the reasons that I am drawn to the podcasting platform is that it's an opportunity for uninterrupted conversation. I mean, think about it. How often do you stumble upon that in today's world? It is such a gift to have the privilege of someone's time and the opportunity to hold their story well In both my work and private podcast their story well. In both my work and private podcast, I have met some incredible people and it has been such a delight to celebrate what they are up to in the world.
Speaker 1:Two more left, number nine, embracing Sui Bian. So in my 20s I had the opportunity to live in China and to study language, and though I am these days far from conversational, there are a few words and phrases that still pepper my vocabulary, and Sui Bian is one of those phrases. So, in essence, sui Bian is kind of like saying whatever, it's chill or all good. At least, this is often how I use it, and this is significant because I am a bit of a perfectionist by nature. I tend to be high responsibility and I have pretty high expectations of myself and others. And as helpful as those attributes are in some contexts, they can create some tension when you are the mom of four boys. This has been a repeated invitation for me to put aside my tendencies in order to love my boys well. This year it's been a good and growing experience to accept that there will probably always be a throw pillow on the floor. It's also been good for me to accept my own limits and not demand more output from myself, and I have a recent example of this.
Speaker 1:So December in our home, probably much like yours, has been a bit insane Full of evening concerts, holiday parties, school volunteering, bouts of sickness and everything in between. And as we were careening towards the boys' last day of school before break, I still hadn't finalized the teacher's Christmas gifts. Previous years Heather would have stayed up late, powered through and gotten it done just in time. 2024, heather said you know what? I think we will just bring it to them when you go back to school in January and let it be an unexpected surprise. You guys. This is massive progress for me and seriously. Teachers get so many gifts at Christmas anyway. In fact, I was actually telling a teacher friend of mine about this idea, about my plan to just give the gift late, and she actually felt like it was a really great idea. So, even if it is a little unconventional, I'm proud that I preserved my sanity and, with that, my ability to show up to my kids with kindness and margin, and that is a win 100% of the time. So sway be in All right.
Speaker 1:The final delight that I want to share is that I've started curating my input. So I am a high input person. I love learning, I love gathering information and seeing how it connects. I am typically reading multiple books and following multiple podcasts at any given time, but this year I have realized that I actually don't have the capacity to maintain the level of input well that I have been. So I've been cutting back and I've been more intentional with what I set my attention to, and creating this margin has actually enabled me to think more deeply about what I do choose to engage, and it has actually been really cool to pay attention and to see how so many things relate to each other. A simple practice I've created for myself to steward. My attention is to just be committed to having output for everything I take in, so practically that looks like a rhythm of reflection, whether it be journaling or writing a haiku, or even making art, and that has been a real gift this year. So, like I said, those are 10 things that brought me delight in 2024.
Speaker 1:And as we round the corner into 2025, I encourage you to take a moment. Think back on all the gifts and delights of this past year. I tend to be an optimist and I am excited for all that 2025 might bring. Yet I'm also aware that the coming year, like all years, will hold its own troubles and challenges, and I truly believe that we are made more ready for what is to come by setting our attention on the good, beautiful and delightful of what has been, by remembering it, by reflecting on it and by carrying that hope into the new day.
Speaker 1:So, in conclusion, I will say thanks for that 2024. And to you, dear listener, happy new year and may it be a good one. Thanks for Doing that is presented to you by the Epiary a place for beholding and becoming, and thank you for joining us for today's episode. Before you go, I have a couple of invitations. If you found it meaningful, could I invite you to take two minutes to rate and review the show. I also invite you to help me create an upcoming episode of Thanks for Doing that by nominating someone or suggesting a topic. Let's link arms to call out the good and the beautiful that we see around us, because I really believe that finding delight in our divided and difficult world could make all the difference. Bye.