After coaching more than 100 clients this year, I’ve been touched by just how much people’s lives are in flux. How unpredictable things are. How, truly, the only constant is change...
And how significant is the investment of time we give to navigating that change.
Like my clients, I’ve encountered a dizzying array of changes and challenges this year. They’ve not been as big as some of the “lifequake” years I’ve had in the past, and fortunately most have been at choice. Still, both on a micro, personal level and on a macro, societal level, this continues to be an exceptional year.
Bruce Feiler, researcher and author of the New York Times bestseller, Life Is In The Transitions, calls life changes “disruptors.” These are events that inevitably call on us to reconsider, renegotiate, recalibrate, revise, or renew our plans and expectations. His research suggests that the average person goes through at least one “disruptor” every 12 to 18 months.
For many, we find ourselves dealing with numerous disruptors at a time.
I invite you to take a moment to quickly jot down a list of all the changes and challenges you’ve had or are still navigating this year, big and small. I bet you’ll be impressed!
Feiler deeply validates the complexity of our modern lives, and offers useful strategies for understanding and riding the waves of change. Above all, he writes, we need to more willingly embrace the constancy of change, and accept that change will happen.
As I write, snow is falling through sunshine at my house. A fresh, very light six inches is covering the ground after last night’s storm. As I look through the sliding glass door next to my desk, some of my favorite winter friends, plump little juncos, are scampering about my deck looking for birdseed that I diligently try to keep available for them.
Since most of today’s coaching sessions are in the afternoon, I had a chance to get outside this morning to play a bit (well, if you can call shoveling playing!) and just love-up on this wintery wonderland.
At one point, I just stopped. Stood. Lifted my eyes. Drew a conscious breath. Took in the world.
It felt so good just to be here, now, for a few moments…
And this experience inspired this December Metaview.
Given the pace and unpredictability of change, I feel compelled to remind you of how important it is to take opportunities to stop and tap into the present. To appreciate that you are alive, you are precious, and you are here, NOW.
This very moment is deeply YOURS.
I pray that during these last weeks of 2024 you’ll take intentional time to breathe, remember you are a child of the universe, and just BE, if only for a few moments at a time.
Thank you again for being a subscriber to my newsletter! Your suggestions on how I can make it more valuable for personal and organizational leadership are always welcome!
Yours on the journey,
Martha