Doing This One Day in December Led to My Earning $5,000 a Month the Next Year

Let It Go! Let It Go! Let It Go!

Across from you someone’s sneezing

Did Swine Flu cause his wheezing?

Stress can make you sick you know

Let It Go! Let It Go! Let It Go!

When we finally say goodbye

To this year that was out of the norm

 Let’s let hope and goodwill shine bright

Live, love and laugh through the storms

At work there’s talk of more downsizing

A pay freeze? Not surprising

 Bernie Madoff with all your dough

 Let It Go! Let It Go! Let It Go!...

A few stanzas later, when I was done laughing, I felt so much lighter that I decided maybe this was the holiday message I was meant to share. So I added a friendly message that included “Crappy 2009? Happy 2010!!! Best wishes for a peaceful, productive and prosperous New Year.” Then I sent it as an informal e-greeting to friends and to some colleagues on LinkedIn.

That began my tradition of sending New Year’s greetings in late December. These days, I like to use an e-card platform like paperlesspost.com or hallmark.com instead of social media. Custom-designing each year’s card, and pausing to feel gratitude for the way each person on my address list has touched my life, is a joy.

Career experts say that the lull during the holidays is a perfect time to network by widening the circle of those you’d normally send well-wishes to.

Expressing my true feelings, anxieties and hopes for brighter days struck a nerve with so many in my extended circle that year. It was a treat to reconnect with friends as we caught up on news and openly shared sorrows, losses, joys and well-wishes. And it was a surprise to get spirited responses from folks with whom I was friendly but not intimate. One coworker from many years in the past interrupted her gift-shopping at the mall to tell me how hard she and a family member were laughing.

Months later, that same colleague — someone with whom I’d had lunch only once and honestly hadn’t kept in touch with — got a top job in publishing. Staffing up, she reached out to offer me a contractor position. Boom! $5,000. Would I have been on her hiring radar if I hadn’t impulsively shared a humorous holiday message with some contacts on LinkedIn? Doubtful. So, what started as me processing feelings, which helped me to show up and relate authentically, created a path to opportunity.

What’s in the cards for 2021?

As it turns out, career experts say that the lull during the holidays is a perfect time to network by widening the circle of those to whom you’d normally send well-wishes.

Doing so allows us to leverage the strength of weak ties. That’s the observation by sociologists that acquaintances or even strangers outside our inner circle are even better bridges to other networks and greater opportunity.

But I really prefer the way a dear friend expresses the same idea. She calls it “activating serendipity.” She’s done it successfully by being open about where she’s feeling stuck as well as about the successes in her life. That requires some vulnerability. Consider briefly sharing a vision, a value or a hope in your holiday exchange that can open a space for conversation. (In selecting your greeting, also consider how its tone might come across if received by a person who may have suffered a loss. This has been such a painful year.)

Someone who receives a pleasant, unexpected note from you might just know of the novel solution, natural health remedy, child care cooperative, book club, prayer group, mutual aid organization, virtual dance class, remote job opportunity, home health aide, therapist, financial planner, social services agency or ministry you need to move your life forward in positive ways. Likewise, you may very well end up delivering someone else’s “random” blessing. In truth, we know that’s Spirit and eternal grace at work.

My loving, best wishes for a bright New Year!

—Claire