Joe Gerstandt, and I do a Q&A exchange regularly. This time it’s all about the “B’s.” Looking ahead to the new year, Joe talked about “The Brand, The Book and The Baby Boy.” I’m going to talk about “Be-ing.” Now, to our most recent question:
What are you most excited about for this coming year?
Mary: As I think about this question, I could talk about what I am going to do. I’ve got brand new plans for getting my work out in front of more people and thus serving more people. I’m taking some risks (for me) — going more public with my intention to transform how corporations view their employees, with reverence for the precious Human resources they are.
But when I think about what I’m looking forward to with my work for this year, first I’m looking forward to learning how to be with all this, versus what I’m going to do. I’m beginning to learn a lot about what if feels like to be in the creative process, and actually “owning” my work. I’ve spent the last several months feeling like I’m going in circles and chasing smoke. When things don’t go the way I think they should go, I wonder what I did wrong, when in most cases, it’s nothing. When I recover from my “meltdowns” enough to talk to others who also experience the creative process, whether developing a business, a book or a project, I find that my experience is not unique to me, and does not mean I am beyond redemption. To reframe, can I view this process as learning? Experimenting? Playing? Normal?
Something about a new year dawning makes me feel hopeful and encouraged. I am looking forward to finding a rhythm to how I am developing my work, bouncing it off others, incorporating new ideas, refining, and serving. I am looking forward to choosing a different perspective when I feel down and discouraged, and instead look at myself with the steady confidence that my friends show me. I am looking forward to the surprises and gifts that will come my way by attending to the journey as much or more as the the accomplishment.
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