After a near death experience three years ago, and a high-profile job cut short by pandemic problems, finding myself again has been an important goal.
I’m not sure how one does that, exactly. It sometimes feels like I have no idea what I’m doing. But, I’m doing it. It is happening. Over the past few months, especially since moving to our house in the Laurentiens this fall, I am stronger and more rejuvenated.
We are happy here. I’m happy here. I’m rediscovering a love for life that eluded me as I grappled with my mortality and the state of the world just outside the GTA. Sometimes the GTA felt like a world gone mad with housing prices creating no end of hardship for so many. People are beating their heads against the wall there to make ends meet and try to afford a house.
I’m a hard worker, but I’m not a workaholic. That is intentional. In my 30s and early 40s I was definitely a workaholic.It made my family miserable, and it made my hair grey. So, I stopped. That didn’t seem to be appreciated in every place.
But it is in the places I’m working. The lessons in Dan Pink’s DRIVE rang true for me in that book. Maybe I’m just not a GTA kind of person.
Suddenly I can be intentional about relationships again, and build new and good ones. I’m not sure if I’m a different person, though some are remarking on the change in me. I’m more likely to share my thoughts in a productive way. I feel like I’m more collaborative than ever, even if I still have thoughts about what it takes to get something right that I’m struggling to share.
And I’m asking for more help than I ever have before. Its paying off. People want to help and want to be involved in projects with us. That sure is nice to know.
Maybe you can find something to do today along those lines. Maybe you can find a way to collaborate in a tense or difficult situation, and improve a promising but off-kilter relationship.
Just a few morning thoughts.
Stay well out there.
John Wiens, Conductor 