Can you see it now? 3 Encouragements for Today
Maybe it’s the second week of sub-zero windchill temperatures? Or the cut flowers on my dining table that arrived from a much warmer place? Being among growing things has been on my mind. After a Saturday visit to my friend Kathryn’s house to check out her greenhouse and resting tulips beds, we got to thinking about how different we both are since the first time I interviewed her.
While artist is hardly a title I would claim, I do landscape every summer. And the natural world is a surefire way to get creative. Looking at the Self-Made Man, I think about how there is nothing more satisfying in the heat of the day than breaking off a large clod of dirt in the way of a flower bed. After hours and hours of shoveling loose soil and pitching fist-shaped rocks over your shoulder, when an impact piece breaks loose, “Ooh, that feels so good!”
More than being punny, many of us are coming out of these past hard years really blooming. The pruning and weeding and cutting back work did it’s job. And soon the flowers and fruit will be there to remind us of our efforts. For example, Kathryn’s business has taken off and that influence in the community she cultivates is becoming more widely shared. I just experienced a big job transition over the winter and everyday my responsibilities grow.
My goal today was to encourage you to keep picking up your hammer and chisel or your spade and shears and keep at it.
1. You will be sore, but also defined.
I really like the Self-Made Man statue for one reason. Notice how the guy is swiveled all around in an awkward position? The self-made man did not get those divine bronze abs just because the sculpture wanted to make him beautiful. When someone twists and crunches and flexes long enough in that position abs are the natural consequence. The self-made man is a true to life representation of the core work necessary to break one’s self free of the unformed stone we are born into.
Part of my winter months has been focusing a lot of mental energy and diligence on chiseling out. Recently, I made a chink and a huge boulder fell away that I had been stuck under. I believed for far too long something untrue about myself and as I watched that lie tumble down and smash to the floor, I found a piece of myself I had never seen before. I always wondered if that version of “me” was below the surface, but there was no way of telling without bringing it to the light.
It’d be unfair to say my muscles aren’t sore and my posture isn’t altered. In the same vein, I am also freer to move in my career space than I have ever been.
2. Who you are becoming can turn into the delight of others.
Statues are beautiful. Memoirs are moving. Flowers can put an instant smile on my face. What really delights me, though, is people.
As I have taken on this new managerial role, I find myself swelling up with Mama Bear pride almost every night. Each team member shuffles in the door unsuspecting of the cool things they can achieve in one night. They all have the same attitude: Be curious.
Sure, I’ve been accused of being too optimistic. But I will continue to tell people often, “If you are looking for people’s wins, then you will be the first person to see them win.”
All around us are self-made people. I would dare to guess that you are one of them. Take a look around and be delighted in what people have achieved. This little exercise is one of the most rewarding parts of my new job. I feel like I have a celebration every night. And maybe it is just my team, but they just keep bringing me more and more personal and professional reasons to congratulate them. And the cool part is when they say, “You got me to thinking about this.”
3. Quiet seasons are a gift.
Shaping rock is loud. Sculptors will maintain outdoor studios for the mess and the noise of their craft. As the dust settles from smashed boulders laying about the ground, the artist steps close to the rock’s surface and begins masterfully shaping the details. The sculptor will trade in their clunky hammers and chisels for fine files and picks. Detailing rock is quiet.
Winter is the hardest time of year for me not just because of the cold and limited sunlight, but because of the many quiet hours indoors. The months after Christmas mean less traveling, going to bed early, absent bird noises, and lonely winds blowing past the windows.
If I had not of stepped back and waited for my ears to stop ringing after the chunks fell away, I would not have see the better, fuller picture before me. The temptation to rush back and keep hammering might have been too great if the billows of rock dust weren’t in my way. I could have made a wrong strike and lost a piece of myself.
Pulling back and being quiet is helping me prepare for what is to come. I might not have been blogging regularly. I was resting on my weekends instead of packing my schedule with lunch dates and activities. I noticed I stopped whipping out my phone every time something Instagramable came across my path. Quiet meant I could ask important questions for the next phase of writing.
Any self-help authors worth their book sales will mention at least once to look back and remember your progress. Small steps can distract us from measuring the distance we’ve come. And it is so true, some people can sustain themselves for decades on the memory of those big impact moments.
Right now, I am stepping back to see this new version of me. With my clear-cut lines and freed up leg, it’s going to be a couple months getting used to this freedom. Don’t worry I’ll still be writing. Nothing could stop me. What will fill the pages of my notebooks and computer files is going to be a bit different. I think when I turn it around for people to see they will be delighted.
It’s been a while! Please leave me a comment about what you are up to these days. Share something with me that I can celebrate with you!