So this week I wanted to do something a little bit different with my blog and vlogging posts. I’m sitting in my garden, in a house that we’ve just sold. I’m going to be moving in a few weeks, and I just wanted to share an experience I’m having right now that I think many of you might be having at some point too, is that really mixed emotion, mixed feeling you’re having about what’s happening in your life.
I think as leaders, we really look forward to the future and we make things happen and we strive forward with purpose and we bring other people along. That brings great results and makes things happen, and at the same time, we go through this really human process of experiencing all of that change.
The buyers of our house were here today, when they were doing a bit more of a survey about checking everything was structurally sound, and they had lots of questions about the house, and as I’m talking to them, I just realised how much I love this place. How much I love this house and the garden and everything that we’ve built. I’m literally sitting on a wall that I built with my own hands. And I’m going to leave this all behind.
It’s not that I’m sad about that, but I know it’s that I’m going to miss it. I’m finding it difficult to actually name the emotion that I’m experiencing. But there is something really deep happening for me here. At the same time, I’m really looking forward to where I am going.
When we as leaders take people through processes of change, we’ve got to remember this happens to people. No matter how much we’re looking forward to where we’re going to go, we’re still going to experience something emotional or mental or physical about the change process.
I guess where I want to invite you all to do is recognise and acknowledge that this happens, and give space for it. This is going to be one of my last times of really gardening in this garden, and I’m going to enjoy it, and take the time to just be with it, and with all that comes up, and all the kinds of thoughts and ideas that I’m going to have about this, that will be happy and sad, reminiscing, knowing that it’s good to honour the things that we have created, and what brought us here.
Doing that is an important part of actually moving forward. There’s a danger, I think that if we don’t take time for these things, that we’ll always drag something along behind and it will slow us down.
So I guess what are the key things I’m saying here is appreciate the process of change has an impact on us, and we’re going to feel things. Create some space for that, give some room, and acknowledge that it happens, and let it happen. And enjoy. Enjoy feeling, even if you’re sad. Anytime that we feel something, it means that we’re doing something that matters. I think mostly that’s what most of us want. That’s my signoff, enjoy the sunshine, feel what you feel, and enjoy the journey, every stage that you’re on.
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