It does not take long to realize the moment you have stepped too far into a situation of which you can not get out. There are countless idioms to describe this position in life and I for one have found myself in many of them... literally.
I remember at age five, my grandfather backing his boat into the lake's water, handing me a rope and saying "Hold on tight, okay?" He goes to park nearby, I drop the rope, and he returns to find me doing the dog paddle to stay afloat while drifting off with the boat.
#1 - Gotta Love the 80's.
A decade when it will still okay to leave a child hanging out alone by the dock. I do not fault this wonderful man. He literally drove 10 feet away and the amount of time between my taking the rope and being rescued was about 45 seconds. And, if it had not been for this moment and the countless after I would not have learned #2.
#2 - Sink, Swim or Learn to dog paddle... quickly.
Who has not been in this situation? At sometime in life we will all think some combination of "I can do this!", "I can fix this!?", or "How am I going to get out of this situation with an ounce of dignity?" In fact, I know I have thought one or another or all of these myself.
And I know me well. That five year old girl looked at the rope which just landed in the water and thought "Oh, I know how to swim. I will just go get the rope."
Just like six months ago when I began working for a non profit and thought "I can do this"; two years ago when I left a decent job to write for no money thinking "I can do this"; four years ago when the title industry went bust and I walked out the door with a cardboard box in hand wondering "How am I going to get out of this situation with an ounce of dignity?"; seven years ago when I left a good job to work from home as a small business consultant knowing "I can do this!"; ten years ago when I graduated college with a (still unused) theater degree questioning if "I can fix this!?"; and all those years ago when a soaking wet grandfather hoisted me over the side of a boat because I thought "I can do this!"
My secret : I learned to float.
I could have learned to swim in the field of finance but there was no passion. I could have panicked and kicked and screamed and flailed in the theater industry but I would have sunk from exhaustion. And yes, I could have even learned to dog paddle using a minimal amount of energy to keep my head above water as a small business owner.
Instead, I chose to lay back, put my head upon my hands, look up at the beautiful sky and enjoy the moment while planning my next move in a calm fashion. Whether needing to pay off some debt or feed a passion, my instincts and intuition have only led me into exciting ventures. I have an array of stories to tell, too many new skills to list, an amazing group of contacts I call friends, and so much confidence that tripping clumsily through a new situation is the only way to keep my ego in check.
The moral of this story : I have never sunk. Neither will you. Stay calm. Use your smarts. Trust your instincts. Follow your heart. If this is not your first "...again?" situation, it will not be your last. Learn to float.... you will save a lot of energy for the next time; because it will happen, again.
Still learning to master a trade, Jill
So what have I gotten myself into? Currently I am researching how to compete with non profit social media giants. (insert laugh here) I am such an ant! This week my goals are to identify if I am lost in a field, burrowing through a ant farm or under a magnifying glass.... next I hope to position myself within view of those who are in the know so I can copy what they are doing. Today's great find was geekpro.com's YouTube tutorial on how to sync Gmail into Outlook which will help keep me from having to constantly log in and out of an email system I find hard to use. Saving time is one equivalent of floating. Thanks James!
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