The values at the core of my work are opportunity, community and responsibility. So, when I heard Patrick Hanlon, author of Primal …
In my opinion, we are actually more alike than we are different. At the end of the day, whatever we do, wherever we go, we’re all in this together. So, I like to reflect on the things that can make our shared experiences a little more ideal.
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This year is the time for me to embrace change beyond the normal. For the past four years, my life has been anything but normal. It’s a season that began with sacrifice and losing control. When it became apparent that something was seriously wrong with my father’s health, I felt the call of home. And it couldn’t have happened at a better time. Soon after, my father was diagnosed with cancer and I knew this was the time to serve my family. My mother had always been the pillar, but now she needed some extra support, at least enough that her main focus could be her husband while she knew that somebody else was available to do the run-around for all the things she’d rather delegate.
The meaning of work also changed for me. I ventured into starting a business, something I never imagined I would do, but still began with no small amount of fear. I was motivated by a simple hope, to embrace the gift of work and do something that challenged me and pushed me to tap into my passions, talents, and skills. Of course it’s nothing short of a miracle that I’m still at it, because giving up was always an option. But sometimes plan B sucks, and you just keep finding reasons and receiving confirmation that you’re on an unknown path, but it’s the right one. I began to examine what success means on my terms, and that has defined me now in ways that when I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror I sometimes have that “wow, look at you girl” moment. I almost can’t believe the woman I’m becoming.
But in the midst of all that, life continued happening. My father subsequently got hit by a stroke just as the COVID pandemic was making landfall in South Africa. And again my world was on edge. It’s a sobering thing when you realize your parent is aging, that the seasons of life are moving ahead whether you’re ready or not. The separation was scary, the inaccessibility to hospitals meant not knowing, not seeing for myself and really being assured that he was getting the proper care. Thankfully, he did begin to recover and finally made his way back home. But the rest of the year was an adjustment, not just for my family, but for all of us as the pandemic took a toll. Many of us went through those periods where the incessant number of funerals really began to take its toll. The more experts and thought leaders talked about the “new normal”, the more I wanted to retreat and switch off. None of us really had the tools to navigate the ripple effects that came along with this global change. For me, the support of a professional network, the journey of embracing change through a coaching exchange, and the gift of spiritual family and online fellowship made all the difference.
Even now, we are still making shifts, adjusting, learning and unlearning. The world continues to change, and all we can do is help each other tap into new and better ways of doing life. I don’t just want to live in the “new normal”, if indeed there is such a thing. And my normal may not be your normal. I just want to thrive beyond my normal…beyond my fears, beyond my training, beyond my education, beyond my income, beyond my experience, beyond my imagination, beyond where anyone in my family has gone before. I am hopeful that “either way, in the midst of the mundane, beneath the surface, in unseen places, in unknown ways, God is at work. And that is truly extraordinary.”
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