To celebrate and pay tribute where tribute is due, on International Women’s Day 2017, a poem:
Now you understand just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing it ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels, the bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand, the need of my care.
‘Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman.
That’s me.
Maya Angelou
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. Anais Nin.
From time to time many of us have experienced occasions when we silently think about chucking a job or a career in which we have long ago lost interest and starting something new, something we have never before – only at the last moment to back off, afraid of failure.
The majority prefer things and situations over which they have control and that are predictable. It’s better that way, they think, safer.
Better the devil you know than the one you don’t, goes the old adage.
Wrong. When you buy into that falsehood, you do yourself a great disservice.
There is nothing sure in life. There are no guarantees that you will always be successful when you try something new, but when you step back from something of which you know you are capable, you are selling yourself short. You are bigger than you see yourself.
You won’t know until you try. If not now, then when?
Life is a high wire act. The only failure is the failure to try. And the only way to get over the fear factor is to screw up your courage and do the thing you fear, over and over until you don’t fear it anymore.
Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second. Give your dreams all you’ve got and you’ll be amazed at what comes out of you. William James.
Life is a series of challenges and choices. Throughout the course of your life the most difficult choice you’ll ever have to make is deciding whether you will let go or hold on a little longer.
Never, ever give up on yourself. Nobody said it was going to be easy. Keep on running.
Happiness is not ready made. It comes from your actions. Dalai Lama.
Is there anything that is so desired but seemingly so difficult to find?
Happiness is a constantly moving target. If you asked me what I thought constituted happiness, I would suggest that happiness happens when what you think and say is in sync with what you do.
It results from constantly learning, growing and sharing: Helping others along their path, making a difference and doing what matters.
Reduced to a simpler level, happiness is loving what you do and loving whom you are with.
It’s up to you and how you choose to see life.
Never for the sake of peace and quiet deny your own experience or your own convictions. Dag Hammarskjold.
Have you found yourself quizzically starring into the bathroom mirror in the morning, at the start of yet another same-old day wondering, “Who is this person?”
Or sitting at 35,000 feet on the way to a conference or on a holiday, vacantly looking out the window thinking, “Do I have this picture right?”
You are not alone. Many today, fed up, stressed out and tired of all the pretence and the nonsense, are considering their options. They are searching not only for more than meaning but rather what Joseph Campbell described as the feeling of being alive.
Could it be time for a change? Yes, it’s true that change is risky but it is equally true that being willing to break from the past doesn’t always mean giving up the “good life” and all that for which you have worked so hard.
Nor does it mean you can’t be consistent with your entrepreneurial, money making instincts and skills. In fact, if you do opt for something new you will need all your innate talents and values.
Letting go of the familiar isn’t for everyone. Breaking from the past will take all the courage you can muster but if you feel in your bones that the future still beckons for you there isn’t a better time than today.
It is no longer business as usual. Our world is changing dramatically, bringing with it many challenges. At the same time though, new opportunities are open to those willing to put down their old, irrelevant stories and make a break from the past.
Are you in?
For more information, rates, or to set up a meeting:
Email drew@drewsimmie.com or call direct 416.450.8867.
