Thu, May 8, 2014

Living the medicine means personal sacrifice. That doesn't mean you always take a loss. It means you continuously have to adjust in order to improve your position. If you're an introvert, it means you will have to "turn up" from time to time. If you're an extrovert, you'll have to "tuck your wings" every now and then. If you're a hopeless romantic, you're going to have to sober up sometimes. And if you're a dry pragmatist, you'll have to be more emotive in some situations.

Basically, living the medicine means moving out of your comfort zone when the situation dictates. Timing is everything. Moving out of your comfort zone can feel like merging onto the freeway, in the sense that the flow of traffic can be so relentless that you almost feel like you're under attack. It can be like awaiting the birth of a child, in the sense that your anxiety, anticipation and excitment have absolutely no influence on the due date. Moving out of your comfort zone can be like dancing salsa the first few times in the sense that you might find it difficult to figure out when to start. In all cases, timing is essential and everything you have to do until the time is ripe represents your personal sacrifice.

Some years ago, I was a founding parent at a brand new charter school, where my children were students. It was a diverse, urban school that had a sizeable Black population, which infortunately, wasn't necessarily reflected in the faculty and staff. I am not very comfortable in political roles, but after the first year, the president of the PTA left the school and we really needed leadership that was representative of the community. Reluctantly, I leaned into the idea and took the position. And as much as I'd like to tell you that it was smooth sailing after that, the reality was really quite different: Just about everything I dreaded about school poilitcs cropped up that year! It was really a drag at times! I had to ask myself many times what I had gotten mysrlf into. But in the end, I was useful to the parents, the students and the school as a whole. I earned a respectable place in the school community. People liked me. They trusted me. And they knew I was committed to everybody's well being. So, when the time came for me to step further out of my comfort zone and start my own business, in the form of a summer camp, it was easier for people to accept me as a leader in that regard.

Stepping out of your comfort zone is not easy and it does not promise to make your life easier, more fun or more profitable. But if there is only one benefit to doing so, it is that you have the opportunity to learn about yourself, what you're made of and what is really possible for you if you're willing to make the personal sacrifice.