Uncomfortable growth

 

Reflection takes a certain amount of brain space and with half term and work there doesn’t seem to have been much recently. The change in daylight hours also makes such a big difference to my energy levels. Getting up early feels like the middle of the night and by the time I leave the office – not late by many standards – it’s pitch black again. I could have a herd of elephants living in my garden and I wouldn’t know about it until the weekend! I yearn for longer days to restore this balance and we are not even at the shortest day yet. On the plus side the autumn colours are amazing and a brief glimpse of the trees is enough to nourish the soul from day to day.  

Alongside the closing of the year we have the most unexpected of political situations both sides of the Atlantic which is creating all kinds of uncertainty. Brexit was one call to arms from a UK population dissatisfied with Big Government policy which has the apparent effect of creating an ever increasing divide between those that have and those that have not. The US have gone one further though and elected an openly non-inclusive billionaire who’s never held political office in his life and has zero experience in running a government. It’s ironic that people have voted for Trump for greater equality when he appears to have a history of the complete opposite, whether it be financial or ethical.

 

While I could angst about what this will mean for me, my job and the future of my kids I can’t see the point of wasting all that energy. The simple fact is that we, the people, have voted for change and that’s what we will get. It might not be the change we wanted or expected, but it will be different. Change does have its benefits of course. Any change, like the seasons, brings a sense of new opportunity. The trick is knowing how to use that opportunity to make life a little better. That obviously also requires you to have thought about what ‘better’ means – it might not mean more money or responsibility but the opposite.

 

Amongst the uncertainty come interesting discussions as to when is enough – at what point can you set yourself free from the treadmill to do something you are really passionate about? Making a conscious decision to change and take a different level of risk is really hard to do, but how often do we hear about people who’ve done just that and grown significantly as a result of the experiences they’ve then had? The challenge is that we have families, mortgages, school fees, teams and so on to consider. Long gone are days when a decision was just about me. I now know what my mother meant when she said my school days would be the only time in my life I could be truly selfish!

 

Whether you take a big risk or a small one the risk of taking no risk is considerable. I met a lady earlier this year who admitted that she’d become increasingly anxious about taking any risk, and as she retreated further into her comfort zone it got smaller and smaller until she was scared to do anything new. Conversely I read the dust sheet of a new book I’m about to start about a lady who threw in a successful city job to row across various oceans singlehandedly, setting all kinds of records along the way. How she made her decision to go was fascinating – she wrote 2 obituaries – one where she stayed put and one where she didn’t, and then looked at which she’d prefer to have written about her when she was gone.

 

Both these women are extreme examples but they illustrate the point that risk taking can be good for you in respect of personal growth. I’m a great believer in doing new things in order to grow – so far its worked out ok… Its why I’ll never be truly wealthy, but I’ll be rich in experience and have more stories to tell when I can no longer get out and create new ones.