lifeoutside the lines

I have a friend who is going through a hiccup professionally.
She had the high flying corporate job, the perfect guy, world travel, parties, toys, money, popularity.
On paper, life was perfect.  Her friends told her so.

To her credit, she walked away from it all because something in her heart was telling her it wasn’t right.
It wasn’t her.
She couldn’t shake the notion that she was called to something bigger.  Something more important than just ticking the boxes.

Of course, everyone was shocked.

Against popular opinion she pursued her dream and had a solid, vindicating and public success quite quickly.  It was a battle hard won, but without question it appeared she had made the right choice, and had silenced the critics.

Life was good.  Destiny had revealed itself to her.  Each step of her life had become clear.  She would complete her current exciting project, then the next one she had lined up, and so on.  She had built a beautiful cathedral in her mind of how life was going to be.  But then, she made the fatal mistake.  She got attached to it.

The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley, an’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, for promis’d joy.

 - Burns.

As the world tends to do when we get attached to things, it sent her a curve ball that saw her project begin to crack and crumble.  Anyone who knows her would recognise it was only a short term glitch.  

The girl, after all is a freekin’ genius (a term I don’t use lightly).  However, because she had externalised so much of her value and self worth into it, it was no longer just a project that was unravelling, it was her.  Logically she knew she should be all shanti about it, but emotionally, her cathedral was in ruins.

It’s a theme as old as time, and I think it’s relevant because I actively strive for my business, and life to be an expression of who I am.  It’s easier said than done, I know.

There is, I realise, a fundamental danger in this idea.  If my business or project (or whatever) becomes an expression of who I am, and it doesn’t work out as planned – what does that make me?  [insert stream of self flagellating adjectives here]

The trick it seems, is to create an authentic impact in the world without externalising ones self worth into the momentary form it may take.

Could you imagine if Edison was personally attached to every bulb that didn’t work?  Heavy vibes man.
At his core, he was clearly attached to the outcome, but not to the the simplicity of the task.

Branson has over 300 companies.  Some are successful, some are not.  His brand however, the light at the centre pushing power to them all, remains strong.  The unmoving mover.

You are not your expressions.
You are the centre of the wheel.  
The more you identify with your centre rather than the moving parts, the more influential your expressions will become.
And most importantly it makes it easier to remember that it’s all just a bit of craic.

Steve probably sums it up better than I can.  He shares, among other gems, the weight of being publicly removed from Apple – and what it taught him. http://bit.ly/l4QMAC

ps.  Please forward me a link to this post the next time I am coming apart at the seams.  thx.

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Cheers,