Stop the Presses

by Dianne Elizabeth

The end of one year and the beginning of another is perennially fraught with conflicting emotions. That's one of the reasons I reserve this space in the last issue of the year. Writing helps me sort out my thoughts and feelings.

The business year seems to wind down quite naturally here at the Business Journal. Late summer and fall have traditionally been SBJ's busiest months. Page count runs high week after week and, as a staff, we meet to evaluate the entire operation, the products, the departments, the people and the financials.

Schedules become even more hectic as the holidays approach and we, along with what seems like every other business in the nation, are immersed in the budgeting (and re-budgeting) process.

Because SBJ is a targeted publication, rather than a general-circulation newspaper, December issues are not crowded with retail advertising heralding Christmas specials. Not that we are averse, by any means, to holiday-related advertising.

Editions published in the later weeks of December tend to be more modest in size. This issue, arriving right between Christmas and New Year's, is in keeping with the not-so-joyous tradition of being the slimmest of them all.

I look forward, therefore, to the new year with issues growing in page number along with the gradually lengthening daylight.

A new year is a new beginning. Anything is possible. Just behind the door that we are about to open lies a whole new world of endless opportunity in business, at home and inside ourselves.

Every year on New Year's Day, I have a meeting with myself when others in the clan are hunkered around the box which emanates a non-warming blue glow. I wear my coziest clothes, and I sit in the most comfortable chair not already occupied by one of the semi-dazed box worshipers.

Taking my special notebook in hand the one with the colorful seed-packet-print cover I turn to a fresh, clean page and begin my list of hopes, dreams, desires, work projects and spiritual undertakings.

Yes, I do vow to be a better person, daughter, mother, wife, sister and businessperson. I will work to become slimmer, trimmer, stronger and to water my houseplants, without fail, every Saturday morning.

Along with the required resolutions will be a long list of projects which I will actually accomplish one after the other. I will paint the bathroom and kitchen in 1999, and lay down a flagstone walkway in certain places where the grass just won't grow. When these tasks are complete, I'll check them off, feeling validated and powerful.

Having a vision for the new year is the important part of this process, I believe. During my New Year's meeting with myself, I can actually see myself behaving in new ways, communicating beautifully with all my relatives, friends and colleagues and surrounded by a creatively enhanced home and office a regular brunette Martha Stewart.

Seriously, the New Year's Day meeting works magic for me. The energy mustered during those hours with myself will carry me through until spring, when the beauty of that season provides its own growth and power.

There's still time this week to purchase your own special notebook and mark out the hours for your meeting. You won't know the possibilities that will be ahead for you in 1999 until you see your hand write them on the page.

Happy New Year! All of us at SBJ look forward to working with you in 1999.

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