“I like the pace of my world. It’s busy, but for me, the less I do the lazier I get.”
―
This morning I found myself smiling as I bustled through the morning routines that have been made complicated by the acquisition of two new little French Bulldog puppy girls Ellie and Keller. Each is named for women whom I greatly admire and from whom I draw inspiration — Eleanor Roosevelt and Helen Keller.
My sleep pattern has also been turned topsy-turvy with two young ones, a less-than-one-year-old English Bulldog puppy, and my two more-mature French Bulldogs. You might ask me ‘Why, all the dogs?’ My dog-loving cat, Nala, visits daily but has decamped to the quiet of my neighbor’s home and the company of his one dog and cat. Nala asks the same question.
Still with this new schedule and unexpected interruptions to my normal daily routine, I find myself smiling and thinking that I really like the cadence of my life right now.
The outside weather is mild, making it possible to work inside and out. I can keep the front door open for the dogs to wander in and out when they want. With this remote work-life I can have the multiple loads of puppy laundry going while still being productive. That alone makes my heart purr – just a little.
My eldest French Bulldog takes his position on the back of the couch so that he can watch out the front door and monitor my video calls. His gentle snoring is very reassuring.
I am happy to have arrived in my 60s feeling energized by my work and life outside of work. I am not struggling with the uncertainty of the world we are living in or needing to have all the answers to how we will evolve going forward. I just feel grounded and engaged. I am in relationship with other individuals who want to work toward finding balanced, long-term, equitable solutions to the complexity we are facing.
I sleep well, dream lightly, and rise ready.
• How about you?
I have not always liked the phase of life that I was passing through. I detest the ‘limbo’ periods when I am between two places – letting go of something to pursue something else or make a change — but find myself in the space between. Limbo is very painful. Yet, I accept that it, too, is part of the journey.
I now think of my career life in decades instead of years. The first ten years of starting a business were filled with challenge and risk. The risk and need to constantly reinvent oneself and grow the organization is a chronic process. But with strategy, systems, skills, and capacity, the second ten years of my small business adventure were very fruitful with six business books, a downtown office, a growing staff, weekly travel, and the field of organizational development growing with me.
In the third decade, I completely redesigned my work life which made it possible for me to rescue a dog (a two month commitment), add him to my family — a family that included my original service dog Buddha Bear the Brindle boxer — and ultimately rescue my mother from a nursing home and declining health to have her live we me and the furry friends for her last year of life. Without the redesign of how I approached my career, I could not have made those commitments. Those mid-life experiences changed my entire life for the better. Make no mistake, those years were not without challenge, sacrifice, and hardship.
After my mother died — preceded by the death of my father — I shouldered an estate to close, a life to pick up, and my own health to reclaim. I walked through a very dark place to emerge ready to re-engage fully. I did not understand the full weight of grief. I heard someone say once, ‘You don’t get over it. You come to understand it as ache that you embrace.’
I believe that that grief has tempered me like blown glass with new features.
Then our worlds were rocked by a global Pandemic, political fractiousness, social unrest, environmental and economic upset, and more.
I am good in a crisis. So in the first year of the Pandemic, I was moved to action, feeling called to the moment. In the second year, I recognized a restlessness and a need to leave my cocoon and refresh with some new surroundings and stimulus for stretching my perspectives.
I have let go of some good habits which I need to pick up. I have some clean up to do around my physical well-being, having paused my healthy eating and exercise routines —I filled the time with other things that felt more important.
In the three years of the life reset, I have lost friends to old age and health issues, lost my best buddy Buddha Bear to a brain tumor, published my first two children’s books (with the third in the series on the horizon). I have discovered new ways to work, play, and connect in meaningful ways. It seems that I have always been in motion, working the list, plodding through each day, looking for ways to contribute positively. But not pausing to appreciate where I was in the moment.
Today I am luxuriating in the well-being of a life being lived fully. I am happy to have arrived here today with all the goofy issues and good things that this day will bring. I even stepped in puppy poop in my bare feet this morning and it did not affect my grateful high – not one bit.
The years fly by. I have learned that life is fragile and time precious. I am thankful to have arrived at a place where I feel deep contentment — while always remaining in motion, reaching to extend the vision which is the spark in my life. The front door to my home is open, the dogs are wrestling, and a Blue Angel just flew over head practicing for the Labor Day event at Burke Lake Front Airport. Life is good!
May you frequently experience this same feeling of being in the right place, at the right time, doing the right work , and surrounded by the right people.
I know problems and challenges will always be there for me to pick up, tomorrow.
Leslie
“When the heart is in the right place,
the smile never fades.”
―
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