One for All and All for One

Last month I had the good fortune of learning that I would be a contributing author for the book, “Life Choices – Putting the Pieces Together” which will be released this fall. This is my first book and I was ecstatic to hear that my story had been accepted by the publisher!

As I was riding on that wave of excitement, one of my colleagues shared her enthusiasm for this accomplishment and stated, “I can’t help but think that when this happens to you, it’s a victory for all of us!” What a tremendous acknowledgement of what it means to be part of a team! Her attitude was spot on and one that we can all learn from. It’s so easy and natural to let our egos get in the way, or to have feelings of jealously when someone else succeeds.

What a difference it would make if we all followed my friends example and truly supported our colleagues. With this attitude we all share in one another's victories and we all experience the win!

Paddle Your Own Canoe

Last weekend my husband, Rene’ and I spent a few days in Montana with some of our closest friends. It was a week of adventure, including hiking and canoeing. For those of you who know me, you are probably wondering if you are reading someone else’s blog by now, as hiking and canoeing are not my strong suits or how I typically spend my time. However, good friends can make almost anything enjoyable.

As the group boarded our canoes we noticed how difficult it was to get from one end of the canoe to the other without feeling the canoe tilt and sway from side to side. Needless to say this caused feelings of insecurity, at least on my part. It turned out the guide wasn't a guide at all, but just someone we rented the canoes from. As soon as we started getting into the canoes he wished us well and was out of sight. The stream seemed pretty calm but we quickly learned currents and weeds can cause a canoe to turn over in the blink of an eye. Before we knew it one of our friends canoe had turned over and the rest of us were watching with complete bewilderment of what had happened and what to do next. Fortunately, it wasn't long before our friends were safe and we were all on our journey together.

I was certainly out of my comfort zone and it got me thinking. First and foremost the importantance of life jackets and secondly the art of paddling. How many times are we “waiting” until things get better before taking action on something? How many times do we let life happen to us instead of taking action to determine our future? When we sit back and allow others to make decisions for us we experience ourselves saying “well they decided . . . this that and the other” and move into reaction mode to whatever “they” decided. Although we are not in complete control of our future, we sure have a lot more control by acting versus reacting.

“As one goes through life one learns that if you don’t paddle your own canoe, you don’t move.” Katherine Hepburn

Let’s start paddling our own canoe instead of waiting for the next current to come along and carry us into the weeds! Let’s decide where we want to go and then take action to move us towards our desired destination.

Happy paddling!