I have found myself in a significant season of change this spring. On the personal front, my oldest will be graduating from high school this month, and my youngest will get her driver’s license. Even though the calendar on the refrigerator constantly reminds me that these milestones are approaching, they are finally starting to sink in as I flip to the May page.
I will have to learn to cook for fewer people on week nights, remind myself not to text and call my son too much when he’s up in Flagstaff this fall, and jump at any time my daughter can squeeze me in on her full social calendar for a quick lunch or shopping. I feel a pit in my stomach sometimes, that time is moving too fast, and that I need to grab them and keep them closer than ever. I’m afraid we won’t have the quality time together on nights, weekends, and vacations that I am accustomed to.
On the business front, Copper Quail Consulting is set to grow and thrive! The journey to hiring two full-time and two part-time staff has been non-textbook and nonlinear, to say the least. Growing a business means listening to others’ ideas and implementing the good ones that were not mine. It means taking feedback in stride to get better, even if it feels like they just called my baby ugly. It means getting out of the way, which I sometimes block, either my own way or theirs.
Change is coming fast and furious for me on this front as well, and I often get the same feeling in the pit of my stomach when thinking about growing too big, too fast, too out of my control… I’m afraid of what’s to come. So I tap the brakes. To stay safe.
My saving grace has been to surround myself with a few chosen people who know me well, are willing to listen, and have the discernment to share their wisdom with me from their trenches or give me the safe space to bumble my way through to the answer I seek. Each of these amazing people in my personal and professional life are helping me see that experiencing fear is not a sign of failure or weakness. It is feedback showing me that I am growing. And if fear is feedback that I’m growing for the better, the seasons ahead are going to be very exciting!
Have you felt like this on the cusp of something big? As you find your new normal? Or build something new? What do you do? Drop us a line in the comments below or send me a note… tara@copperquailconsulting.com