The last three years have been so chock full. From surviving the pandemic both personally and professionally to moving the business after being in the same location for 18 years to reestablishing ourselves in the location where it all began- it has been 36+ months of surviving, figuring things out, and adapting to our new normal.
I am working very hard on a project that has been going on for something like 15 months. I’ve never been more focused nor have I ever been so challenged internally or externally. While there are many lovely things about this process it has been some of the hardest and most frightening months of my adult life.
I remember thinking in my twenties and thirties how hard everything was to me, but now in my sixties, I am stunned by how much harder it is even with all I have learned. And why, you might be thinking is that so? I think my answer can be summed up simply. I turned my life inside out and upside down to see if I had at least one more big thing…one more big idea in me before I needed to slow down. That is part of it. The other part is simply fear. I am realizing I have made much of this journey harder by giving into fear or as one of my dear friends says…dancing with the devil.
There have been many gifts of learning with this project…not the least of which is learning how even more amazing the people I have the privilege of working with are. With me not there with them as much they are showing me how the business can grow and thrive by setting them loose. We talk every day, but now they are running the show while I build the next one.
One thing that has evolved for me personally is learning more of what I made of…and more about what I need to take care of me. To get really personal, I took the Myers Briggs when I was in college. I learned I was INFP. For those of you who are not familiar the letters stand for Introverted (I) Intuitive (N) Feeling (F) Perceiving (P). To learn more there is plenty more info available.
When I got the test results it was share with me that I was right on the line between Introvert and Extrovert based on my answers. What has happened over the years since is that I have moved the needle more and more towards the introvert column all while being required by my work to be more and more extraverted in public.
I’ve done some television spots, I’ve been interviewed and featured in magazines and I’ve gotten in front A LOT of students. I loved all of it a little but the teaching I loved and love a good deal more. I enjoy the process of sharing. I have learned, though, that I need to reconcile the need for me to represent our brands and my propensity for hiding from the camera and in three words… get over it.
So in the coming months it is quite possible that you will see more of me, but my hope is that I am able to do that in a way that works for everyone who follows me and what we all do. I want you to enjoy and benefit from it and I want me to shift the way I feel about it. For those of you who do this I will welcome your input.
