The title almost says enough, right? What a year. And it’s only June. While this year continues to give the gifts of change, one thing keeps coming to mind, “what lesson do we need to be learning?” When I say ‘lesson’ I mean karmic, mother nature wrath, I’m putting you in a time out to teach you to save the world kind of message.
Are we learning the lesson?
The challenge with that thought is that I am seeing such pain and challenge come to truly amazing people. What lesson are they needing to learn? Perhaps that isn’t for me to answer, it’s part of the journey each of us needs to undertake this year. Each of us needs to pause and ask ourselves, what can I learn from this?
I wasn’t sure of my answer until recently…but it’s coming into focus.
Last week I was hospitalized. Not COVID. Optic Neuritis. Look it up, it sucks. It’s extremely painful and when I entered the hospital I had basically NO sight in my right eye and no idea what was wrong. Andy (SO) had to drop me off at the ER valet, kiss my terrified face goodbye and wait. That started 6 days of loneliness and unanswered questions. 6 days of IVs and high dependence on people who I had never met before and may never see again. 6 days of tests and worry and fear. (ps. not the point of this post, but I’ll be fine and I’m recovering, gratefully)
For a woman who likes to think she is always in control, who is in charge with all the answers, my lesson is – LET IT GO! Trust the people around you, ask for help in your life, turn the reigns over to others and be okay being dependent on someone for something. A bit liberating actually.
I would be missing something if I didn’t think about letting it go in context to the great social change movement going on in the US right now. Our communities are stepping out and up to bring equality truly forward and advance real change. Waves of change are all around us. The younger generation is stepping up to advance our society, to move forward the things that are holding us back, to create real, systemic change and it’s going to make a lot of us uncomfortable. I personally welcome it.
It’s no longer enough to be WOKE, you have to be an ally, a shield. It’s not enough to be a leader, you have to be willing to be led by someone whose experience is different than yours, who might do it differently and take us someplace new. That is transformative change. For me, I have to continue to let it go and get in line behind someone who knows different than me, learn from them and support their work, advance their great thinking, embrace the change. I need to let my own script go, to an extent, and join someone else’s to help change the world. I need to lend my strengths to someone else’s vision to help advance real systemic, corporate and community change. I’m in!
I am joining the fight in a couple of places, one of them is focused on voter rights. Each of us have a responsibility to ourselves, our children and our communities to vote. We have to enable others to vote. I have joined the fight for voter rights at FairFight.org and made a contribution, my first of many.
Where will you let it go? Where will you join the fight? Where will you listen and learn? What is your lesson?
#blacklivesmatter #PRIDE #dobetter #vote
I’m doing lots of listening and amplifying. Like you, I’m more normally the one in charge and embracing my role as listener took work. And I’m looking carefully at how I run my company and which causes I support. I signed up to be an escort at Planned Parenthood and am revamping my donations.
Glad you’re going to be okay, friend