Do you ever feel lost and unsure? I have those feelings now. After a summer vacation with less structure and no schedule it feels strange and unsettling to reenter a world that is familiar but changed. Do I still know how to write a blog? Have my problem-solving skills withered or flourished in the lazy days of summer? The question, “Who am I now?” is a continuous mystery. Perhaps feeling lost and unsure leads to discovering a new me – a new you – a new us – in this always evolving world.
Have our summer experiences changed us? Certainly our outer world is shifting every day. During this month alone, we will lose an additional 1 hour and 8 minutes of daylight. Shorter days translate to cooler weather. The stock market ticks up and down. The political climate shocks us with surprise. Change is the constant, yet there’s an odd security in dependable unpredictability.
“The more things change the more they stay the same.” Can we apply that to ourselves? As tiny fragments of the whole, we too continue to evolve. In the business world, agility is a key factor for success. Innovative strategies, flexible operations, and limber organizations respond best to the inevitability of change. Can we embrace that? It’s second nature to look at change as a problem, but is it? What if being agile means being okay with feeling out of control?
Do we really want the option of no change?
Perhaps feeling lost and unsure is okay. What if instead of partnering these feelings with fear, we couple them with curiosity?
“Hmmmm, am I lost?
Let me look around.
No. The territory feels unfamiliar, but I am not lost.
I do feel unsure.
How would I act if I knew failure was impossible?
Let’s see…”
Confidence is elusive when fear is present. Curiosity and innovation ride together.
What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?
We will always be unsure of the future. We never know what’s around the bend in the road. Our growth and evolution is a mystery.
We are not lost. We are found in our curiosity.