Have you ever noticed that major changes often arrive with a change in perspective too? I can attest to that perspective shift! The massive life changes that Sheri (my wife) and happily foisted on ourselves, I sometimes refer to as the “Big Life Reboot”. It seems like other than where we live we turned everything else in our lives upside down – and mostly all at once.
In the move from the corporate lifestyle for over 30 years there were some unexpected changes in perspective. I thought I’d share a few of the major ah-ha moments. While some don’t seem major at first glance, upon reflecting on them further their essence has grown. Figuratively I have gained new eyes, ears, and other heightened senses. Here are a few to share. You
New Ears – Working from my home office, often with the windows open, I have grown and marveled at the sounds of nature all around. The perplexing thing is that the sounds had always been there. I had lost ears to hear them over the years! Their loss was not a conscious choice; rather it slowly just happened over time. What awesome sounds are all around us each day if we choose to hear them – birds, children playing, voices, laughter, and much more. What are you no longer hearing?
New Eyes – One benefit from my home office is the ability to take a break and go for a walk with my wife, go for a 25 mile bike ride, or head out for a workout – based on a whole new schedule. I was amazed – and it slowly happened over time – the things that I saw and experienced outside my home, which had long sense disappeared from my radar over the years. Like hearing, the diabolical thing is that the ability to see with full fidelity had always existed. I had lost ability to see thing and take-in things over the years. A new sight renaissance has occurred! Amazing sights surround us each day if we choose to see them – the people around us, flowers blooming, trees budding, squirrels using our sidewalk as a high-speed sprint zone, the sky and sunshine, and a great deal more. As I tell my family, and likely my original quote, “what you look for is what you see.” Seems logical right? Do you choose to see problems or opportunities? Are you seeing good or bad? Consider practicing new eyes and see what happens. What are you no longer seeing?
Priorities & Stress – In the corporate your agenda often belongs in part or wholly to others – especially to your leadership. Welcome to the world of entrepreneurship. The good news is your time is your own. The bad news is your time is your own to manage! I found out of over many weeks that I was not managing my time very effectively. Gone were the many crisis events that occurred each day, the often dreaded recurring scheduled meetings, the presentations to prepare for, and the endless parade of my executive level deadlines that had to be apportioned into the workday and very frequently at night and on weekends. Linked to priorities is the subject of stress. Many corporate positions are fraught with stress – mine in particular over the past 4 years had been off the charts. Entrepreneurship, which can be stressful in its own right, has the ability for one to manage stress in new, creative, and different ways. Cortisol (aka “The Stress Hormone”) is released in response to stress and mine had been flying high. In my new environment, I bid welcome to a new level of much lower stress. What I did notice, which was a surprise to me, that my stress level had been so high that when something additional was “piled on” to the stress heap, there effectively was not much change in altitude available. Now that I had fallen to a new lower level of stress I found that I had to take my new calibration into effect. I found myself reacting, well actually over reacting, to small stressors due to the change in available range for my stress meter. Over time, I’ve been continually recalibrating when I find and notice that I’m un-naturally reacting.
Thank you for allowing me to share these thoughts with you. While only a subset of my overall experience, I hope that they are profitable for you. Thanks for reading! Make your life the one you want to live!
