hey y’all -
long time no chat, its good to be here with you. i’m going through a lot of change at the moment, which seems like the vibe in these last few years huh? with all that is going on in my private life, my work, my relationships, my leadership, there’s one big question that comes to the forefront: how do i navigate all of this?
by this, i mean the curveballs of life, life of consistent changes in different realms at different times. what do i do?
when i sit with this, i’m reminded of two things:
when i interlace these two, i’m able to answer my loved one’s question of “how do you navigate this complexity with such grace?” it boils down to believing in something beyond myself that knows my pillars/values/desires. believing that i can be sculptor and clay.
when i use the term God here, that can easily be replaced for life, chaos theory, astrology, or simply the stories/mottos you hold about how life is going to work for you. which makes this topic of navigating change so tricky because we’re talking about believing in something beyond ourselves, beyond the physical body, beyond the capitalistic-patriarchal-white supremacist belief in total personal responsibility of our lives. its “unprofessional”.
but the truth is, if we only believe in ourselves, then we only believe in what we can control. we can’t control life.
we can shape life, as Butler and brown remind us, and in that shaping we are shaped by life. to believe that we can control everything will only lead to more stress, spiraling, catastrophe for ourselves. we can't lead in our power when we move from the place of control and ownership.
think of yourself as a steward over what is the shape of your life instead of the owner. this is how we being to shift into more grace, in life and in change.
this doesn’t mean there will not be frustration or challenges, it means we allow ourselves to flow with the current of the uncertainty of change even with tears in our eyes and confusion in our hearts. we believe in something beyond ourselves that allows us to feel okay and able to exercise our intentions to adapt. we are clay and sculptor based on what we believe in.
and if we believe that our lives will be filled with destruction, harm, pain, then thats how we will shape and navigate change.
so i/we come back to ourselves and ask: what are the stories, narratives, elements of life that i want to believe in beyond myself so i can be clay? what are the values/pillars/intentions that help me be sculptor?
my answers to these help me navigate change with grace and trust. i want you to percolate on the answers of these for you, too. share your thoughts with me via reply. & may the answers empower you.