New Ways To Go

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonpratt/ / CC BY 2.0

Let me tell you the story of how a quick morning chat over the proverbial water cooler led to my finding my passion a decade later.

Returning to my corporate job after a weekend, I stopped to talk to a co-worker before getting down to work. 

“How was your weekend?” she asked. 

“Busy,” I replied.  “My To Do list was so long I didn’t get much done.  I didn’t even get to do the most important thing.” 

“What was that?” she asked.

“I wanted to work on my novel.  But my list was so long I never got to it.  I had to go to the bank, the post office, clean the house, take the cat to the vet, do the laundry and on it went.  I was running around all day so I never got to sit down and write.”

“Then that wasn’t the most important thing.”

“Of course it was,” I said, rolling my eyes.  “How can you say it wasn’t?”

“The most important thing was running your errands otherwise you would have worked on your writing.”

“Hmmm.” 

Her response made sense yet I felt she wasn’t really understanding my need to get certain pressing things done.  So I filed her comment away. . .  for a decade!

Flash forward, ten years later.  I’m stuck in a rut, wanting to do so much more than work at my j-o-b.  But what to do?  I’d tried a zillion different ideas but nothing felt right in my heart. 

As part of my daily exercise routine, I’ve always gone for a walk or a run in the morning.  So on this day, I was out for my walk and asking myself, the same old question, “What can I do?”  And on this day, I was reminded of the water cooler chat I’d had 10 years before. 

What is so important to me?  What is on my To Do list for today?  I thought about my list (you should have a pretty good idea of what was on it — those same old chores!).  But I can’t even start my list until I finish my walk, I bemoaned.  AHA! 

There was something so important it didn’t even go on the list.  It was something that I wouldn’t give up for anything in the world — my exercise.  Then my mind was flooded with things I’d been thinking about for a long, long time. 

How fortunate I am to have the ability to walk and move.  My mother, who suffers from knee and vascular problems, has tremendous difficulty walking and cannot experience the pleasure and health benefits one receives from it.  Some things we take for granted.  My thoughts went on and on. 

Then I knew that what I wanted to do would have to be related to fitness in some way.  The very next week I was looking through an adult education catalog and saw a course description for becoming a certified personal trainer. 

But my thoughts went even further.  I loved the idea of helping people.  And I wondered why it took me so long to find out what it was I wanted to do in life.  I wanted to help others live their passion as soon as possible, which led to my becoming a creative career consultant and so on.   

Why am I telling you this story?  It’s not about prioritizing, though there is a point to be made there.  The reason is that I want you to listen.  Pay closer attention to the conversations you have with people.  Getting into the conversation is great but even better is the remembering, churning, digesting, imagining, thinking, and connecting that occurs from those talks.  Not only store thoughts away but write them down in a notebook and review them periodically.   

And who knows, you may find your passion as a result of a chat by the water cooler!

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