"If nothing ever changed, there would be no such things as butterflies." ~ Wendy Mass, The Candymakers
I found this sign in a Florida thrift shop a couple of years ago.
It's been hanging above my desk ever since, a good reminder that I need to keep pushing forward out of my comfort zone.
But while I've experienced some growth during that time, I've also sidestepped some changes I knew were necessary to break through a ceiling I kept bumping up against in my career.
The changes involve moving into a new role and new territory where I have never envisioned myself, and especially not at 61 when so many of my friends are focusing on retirement.
I'll be stepping into a big unknown, and the unknown can be scary. I truly don't even know enough to know what questions I should be asking, and by asking them, I reveal how ignorant I am about it.
"One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again." ~ Abraham Maslow
Sidestepping and looking for a shortcut has been much easier... but I haven't moved forward.
So this is the year I'm embracing the word GROW and all of the pain, frustration, exhaustion, and vulnerability that will come with it. I’ll be hiring an assistant this month, someone who can take over tasks that will free me to better help my clients and family, and ensure I have a personal life. I also have a new team member who is eager to learn and succeed, so I'm determined to grow my business to ensure her success, too.
That may not seem like such a big thing to you, but after being a solo freelancer for so long, even in my real estate business, involving someone else in my daily routine is going to be a big adjustment.
I'm grateful for the training, encouragement, and support that Keller Williams Realty provides for growing our businesses. I've actually been preparing for this for awhile, but the fear of the unknown and unfamiliar was still greater than my belief that it's the right path for me.
Until now, anyway. As uncomfortable as it will be, I do believe this is where God is leading me.
“Personal growth is not a matter of learning new information but unlearning old limits.” Alan Cohen
Wish me luck!
One of my team leaders at my office posted the following on Facebook. It's perfect for the start of a new year, so I'm sharing it with you.
Excerpts from “My New Year Wish” by Neil Gaiman-
May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.
...I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you'll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.
I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.
So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.
It's a New Year and with it comes a fresh opportunity to shape our world.
So this is my wish, a wish for me as much as it is a wish for you: in the world to come, let us be brave – let us walk into the dark without fear, and step into the unknown with smiles on our faces, even if we're faking them.
And whatever happens to us, whatever we make, whatever we learn, let us take joy in it. We can find joy in the world if it's joy we're looking for, we can take joy in the act of creation.
So that is my wish for you, and for me. Bravery and joy.
Be kind to yourself in the year ahead.
Remember to forgive yourself, and to forgive others. It's too easy to be outraged these days, so much harder to change things, to reach out, to understand.
Try to make your time matter: minutes and hours and days and weeks can blow away like dead leaves, with nothing to show but time you spent not quite ever doing things, or time you spent waiting to begin.
Meet new people and talk to them. Make new things and show them to people who might enjoy them.
Hug too much. Smile too much. And, when you can, love.
I wish you all a healthy, happy, blessed 2021, full of love, mistakes and growth!
