Outstanding Club

Today’s Misdirectional Compass Point:

“Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.”

Change is always happening, but lately it seems to have accelerated and magnified. The economic future of the United States, and in fact the world, seems to be shifting in profound ways. American economic institutions are closing doors, being bought out or merged, and/or being bailed out by a government that needs a little bailing out of its own. The National Debt Clock in New York City has run out of digits, and will be replaced by one capable of handling enough digits for the debt to reach up to a quadrillion dollars. Companies of all sizes are having trouble getting loans to cover payroll and expenses, and hard decisions about how those companies will make it through today’s struggles may impact your own career or the livelihood of someone you care about. Without a doubt, the road ahead looks to be difficult.

The normal response to such difficult challenges may be anger, panic, sorrow, or fear. You may simply not quite know how to feel - all of this just seems so BIG, how does one begin to understand what a sensible reaction might be? I certainly don’t have the answers, but I might be able to provide a few helpful questions, and perhaps even a few words of encouragement, that you can apply not just to these big, monstrous changes, but to change of all shapes and sizes that might seem, at first, like something to fear or dread.

Change is inevitable. It is constant. It simply is. To say that change is good or bad is to only look at it from a particular viewpoint, no matter who you are and no matter what the change may be. If a friend loses his or her job, your initial reaction may be to console or worry. But what if the loss of that job was the spark necessary to start an amazing new journey in your friend’s life? A loved one discovers he or she has cancer, and instinct might call for grief. But what if the cancer inspires making more of the years remaining than all the other years before, touching lives in ways they would never have dared to otherwise?

I don’t mean to indicate that job loss or cancer are good things by any stretch of the imagination! I am suggesting that judging whether such changes are “good” or “bad” is irrelevant - the changes have happened, they exist, and all that remains to be done is determine the attitude we each take with us into whatever the future holds next.

I also don’t mean to suggest that you shouldn’t show empathy for the plight of your fellow man when they face difficult challenges. They need your caring support and encouragement more than ever in these times, just as you would were you in the same shoes. But part of that support is letting them know that they still have a choice about things in their lives, they still have a chance to make amazingly positive impacts in the lives of those around them. Your best days and theirs can easily still be ahead, and it just requires facing challenges and peering deep into them for the gems of opportunity and growth that exist within.

“Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.”

Some changes are, of course, far more difficult to face than others. It may be that the path ahead cannot be traveled by the person you are today, that the challenge is simply insurmountable. Most, when faced with such adversity, may walk away and live with the opportunity cost of taking a path that, while acceptable, will not take them where they desire most to get to. What if, instead of choosing a different challenge or path to face, you choose a different you instead? If you were to grow in such a way that the previously insurmountable challenge seems less impossible, the result could be an arduous but worthwhile journey to everything you dream and hope for. It would require the ability to adapt, and the courage to let go of some of the control you perceive you have in order to face the unknown. It may not even work, at first or even ever, but consider the alternatives (a life less than you desire) and that even in this worst case scenario, you’ve grown as a person and are much better equipped to face the next challenge that dares cross your path!

“Growth means change and change involves risk, stepping from the known to the unknown.”

To fear growth is, in a sense, to fear change. After all, you literally cannot have growth without change. But there is certainly risk involved, as my 401K will readily attest to these days! Some days by doing nothing, you will end up temporarily in a better position that those who chose to embrace change and take on the challenges of the day. To perceive that as a reason for inaction, though, is a trap, for there will be another day, and another after that, and change will come in each of them. Each time you don’t take the opportunity to grow from change, you lose the chance to grow into the person you have the potential to be. Who do you aspire to be? What is the version of you that would make you amazed and exhilirated to be alive, regardless of what challenges may come? What kind of husband, father, wife, mother, son, daughter, or friend do you want those you care about deeply to have in their lives? By embracing the inevitability of change and making the most of the day’s opportunities to grow, you can not only enrich your own life but also the lives you touch.

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” - Maria Robinson

Is change something to fear, or something to eagerly await? Will you just weather the storm, or will you steal some of its power as your own? Are you going to let change happen to you, or will you embrace change and enable it to happen for you?

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