Go With It — Third Thought Third Thought

Go With It

3rd of April ~

I am a professional in the change management field, with an expertise in creativity and innovation.  That said, I have often chuckled at how change-inept many of us are in our personal lives.  This spring I am fired up around multiple goals….and I have been sick.  What?!  I am NOT in control here?!

So, this week, on my second round of antibiotics and hopped up on vicodin for cough suppression (whee!), I am pondering the gifts of inaction.  What am I to learn here?

Fallow Time

Farmers let their fields rest.  My body has enforced rest upon me.  I don’t think I was stressed or burning the candle at both ends.  Still, my life is FULL.  I like to take big, gobbling bites of life and maybe it’s time to slow down and pare the To-Do list a little.  I feel completely guilty watching multiple versions of Jane Eyre.  I am catching up on TV via Hulu in my sickbed.  Modern Family had me laughing aloud (again, love the vicodin).  I feel better when I rest.

The Essence

I have had to cancel things left and right.  Some wonderful events I could not attend.  Others have been pushed out.  The only thing I am doing this entire week is showing up at family Easter dinner.  What’s most important rises easily to the top when choices are narrowed.

Incubation

Hours in bed, wandering around in my head, is giving me time to ponder.   I am making notes in my journal about my delayed plans.  The Incubation process is a well-documented aspect of the creative process.  My dreams are gaining momentum with the forced stillness.

Reflection

I have also taken my own advice to reflect on the first quarter of the year and ask big and small questions: What have I harvested and what do I still want to accomplish in 2010? Here are a few of the things that popped to the top of the Harvest list:

• Fed kangaroos and petted a koala in Australia!

• Managed to sustain the first three months of weekly newsletters.  The public commitment compelled me and, what do you know? I LOVE writing it.

• Initiated external work on our home.  We have a new roof and the primer paint is going up!

• Made a really cool travel journal (a la Mary Ann Moss)

Meanwhile, I leave for Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday.  Oh La!  Living La Vida Loca….

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