As we enter the last month of a year that seems to have raced by even faster that the years before it, I inevitably find myself taking stock.  It’s the nature of the impending rollover into the new year.  We all do it.  We ask: did I accomplish enough?  Am I where I wanted to be by now?  Do I still have time to finish what I set out to do?

A friend of mine who had recently turned 40 made a huge life change and when I asked him where he got the courage, he said, “You only get so many chances to reinvent yourself.”  That statement smacked me in the face and I find myself coming back to it over and over again.  He reminded me that the things on your long-term to-do list don’t get easier as you get older.  You don’t suddenly have more time available to you or more energy to devote to your projects.  It’s precisely because days become busier and shorter that we get more and more selective about how we spend them.  That’s the beauty of stopping to take stock.  At the end of the year, it’s not so much about what you’ve accomplished or failed to accomplish; it’s about making sure the thing you’re killing yourself to pursue is still the thing you want. Read the full post on newmusicaltheatre.com.