It has been too long. But I have a really good reason. A big move. The end of a relationship. The purchase of my first home. The feeling that every single thing in my world was in motion at the exact same time. Not a bad thing. I suppose it could be called exhilarating or at least that will be my word choice. I am certain some would call it fear. Perhaps most would.
And in the midst of this whirlwind of difference, what session did I end up having to present, last minute, at the recent NENA conference in Indianapolis? Out of 101 sessions, which was the one requiring my intervention lest it have to be cancelled? Change Management of course.
Standing in a room of about fifty people, helping them see how to manage the unexpected opportunities of their professional and personal lives, what I really performed was a public self service. Fifty-six minutes of reminders and assists. Passionate declaration of the fact that all happens for a reason. That some things are only for a season. And that we have a role to play if only we choose to take the stage. Any stage. I think I only looked at the power-point a handful of times. I didn't look at the instructor notes at all. I doubt anyone noticed.
There are moments where the stage might be big, with an audience of friends, family and strangers filling a great hall. There are others were the stage may be a small room, with an audience and cast of one. No matter, when the time comes, we are judged, if we are judged, not by how well we followed the script (hint, there is no script) but how well we acted our part. How true we were to our character. The drama critic will silently ask and scribble an answer to whether we lived up to who we were brought here to be. Did we take the chances? Did we dream our dreams while awake? Did we try to make our world to the image of something greater?
If we know that the change we are living is to that end. If we know that the missteps and the backtracks, the tears and the smiles are all a part of that mission to be ourselves, to live ourselves, then nothing else really matters. As the British say, "A change is as good as a rest". Well friends, here we are. Another place on the journey. And sitting on my front porch, coffee in hand, trying to figure out what that one birdsong is that is so distinctive from the others, I can safely say, I am on my path. But,if you truly believe all things happen for a reason, if you truly have faith, then you know that you never really leave the path. We only sometimes forget to see it. And change is really just a different view.