Pivots

Have you ever been cruising along, minding your own business, zigging to the vibe – then suddenly there’s a zag in the road? I’m going to say the answer is yes. How many well-conceived life plans have changed, morphed, modified, melted away? For me it’s quite a few.

When I was a kid, I planned on being a firefighter. Yep, I’m not a firefighter. When I was in high school, I planned on becoming a high-powered corporate attorney. I’m not. In college, I planned on getting my PhD in English and teaching. You guessed it – I’m not an English professor. I do have a PhD in sarcasm from the school of life, though. 😃 

Not to sound super cliché, but life is full of pivots (yea, ok – it sounds super cliché). Point being that life isn’t one straight line from beginning to end. It wanders. It meanders. It has twists and turns. It has bridges (and sometimes burned bridges). If we were to draw it out, it would look something like this:

Here are some things I’ve learned about pivots during my time on earth:

• They come in all shapes and sizes, from something as simple as putting an item back at the store that we don’t really need to losing our jobs.

• Sometimes we choose to pivot in life – and sometimes life forces pivots upon us.

• If we choose to pivot, we need courage and discipline.

• If a pivot is forced upon us, we need resilience and fortitude.

And you know what I’m going to say next. Every single one of us will experience a series of pivots in our lives. It’s very much a part of our human journey. Some we are excited about and embrace. Some suck so bad we don’t want to get out of bed in the morning.

Let’s be honest, pivots aren’t easy (especially the ones we didn’t choose). But pivots also present new opportunities and a new perspective on our own lives and the world around us. Pivots (chosen or forced) invite us into a journey of discovery and growth. We find out a whole lot about ourselves during pivotal moments. Sometimes we like what we see – sometimes, well…it can be ugly.

The beauty, however, is that we – as humans – have the power to decide how we want to respond to these pivots in our lives. Do we want to own them? Or do we want them to own us?  

Have a safe and happy July 4!

Until next week.

Cheers,

Andy

(All written content created the old-fashioned way.)