Thank you to all of you who have read and responded to these “Leadership Reminders” over the years. Sincerely. I appreciate it. You’ve given me the space to think and express myself and be seen and heard. I’m often reminding my clients that simply being seen and heard is a basic need of human beings, and so now I notice the shoe being on the other foot, as I am reminded and grateful that you have been giving that to me.
It’s been nearly three years since I’ve posted. I just haven’t had the inspiration. I started several times, and then abandoned the attempts. The messages I was trying to formulate just didn’t feel right. But now I’m finding inspiration again in a slightly different form, so I am writing to let you know that this is post is the last in the former series and the first in a new series.
In these Reminders, I’ve been writing from my role as Coach/Trainer/Consultant. I’ve been trying to contribute, to be helpful. But as I look around at my world from this new place, being 60, I’m realizing that this is the very thing that isn’t feeling right any more: it doesn’t feel authentic now to try to teach or train. The terrible but obvious irony is that I hate reading things like I’ve been writing, when someone is trying to teach me, as part of a generalized audience. I mean, every now and then an article will really get through to me, but for the most part I simply feel overwhelmed with all of the good, earnest people trying to write things to help other good people. There is no lack of “Leadership Reminders” out there to draw from, and I don’t feel the need to keep adding more of them.
So, take a deep breath, and please help me blow out my 60 candles and happily end this series of “Occasional Leadership Reminders”!
My plan going forward is to simply share what I am learning and noticing — not writing to teach, but writing as a learner/student myself and just sharing what I experience as I continue to learn and grow. My birthday wish is that some of you will join me in reading and occasionally responding to the new series: Notes from an Elder Child.
The truth is, I am finding it quite bizarre to be an “Elder.” It’s not like we have clear or useful guidelines or traditions for what this even means in our culture. I don’t feel like an elder: I still feel like a kid. And the “elder” I get, the more I realize that I have no idea which ideas or tools or “truths” about becoming an elder will work for anyone else… we are all so different. I’m not even completely sure what has worked or not worked for me! But at the same time I’ve been noticing how simply wonderful and amazing it feels to be six decades in and still be discovering and learning so much. Old dogs can learn new tricks! So going forward I will write about what I’m learning, as the childlike elder that I am, just from the joy of sharing, and the joy of sparking each other’s joy in sharing our stories.
With love,
Zemo