“It’s harder to build than destroy. To build is to engage and change. In jazz, we call progressing harmonies changes. Changes are like obstacles on a speed course. They demand your attention and require you to be present. They are coming…they are here...and then they are gone. It’s how life comes. Each moment is a procession from the future into the past and the sweet spot is always the present. Live in that sweet spot. Be present.” –Wynton Marsalis
Author suggestion: When reading this, have David Bowie’s Changes playing in the background. I am officially a master of one. I felt like I had a leg up on Aziz Ansari, who is a self-proclaimed master of none, but then I remembered that he worked with Amy Poehler and that realization quickly served as my slice of humble pie. This weekend, I graduated with my Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology finally. Well, I say finally, but at the same time the past two years went by in the blink of an eye. That’s the thing, time flies whether you’re ready or not. The trick is to live in that sweet spot. For the past six years, my cohort and I have been hard at work building. We have been continuously building the foundation for an exciting career that will never cease to involve construction and reconstruction. This fact is awesome. The never-ending opportunity for advancement and the unending ability for betterment for yourself and your patients is a unique privilege. Consistently living in a state of gerund. -ing. As in growing, learning, failing, modifying, failing, adapting, learning, changing. Note that failing and learning were mentioned more than once and could have been mentioned several more times. As someone who loves to learn, the fact that I have a lifetime of learning ahead of me, as well as making mistakes, I am excited by the challenge. Of course I, and every other person, will fail. Those mistakes are just a job hazard to being human. How we embrace the mistakes determines how they will impact our future. G. K. Chesterson said, “An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.” Our perspective and our reaction to a mishap speaks volumes. Make your misstep a step in a new direction and consider it an adventure. A direction where you know a little bit more and actually have a little bit more direction to guide you. Our cohort had an award ceremony and were given advice from two individuals who were in our shoes last year at this time, and we were reminded of John C. Maxwell’s advice to fail forward. It’s simple. This two-word phrase packs a lot of life advice into a concise message. You cannot be afraid to fail. If you live in a way that you never fail, you need to look and see if you are creating a glass bubble for your life and actively push yourself towards new things that may involve failure. Failure means you took a chance. Failing again means you had the strength and persistence to try again. As long as you learn something, you fail forward. I know that mistakes will be made, but I also know that I will learn from them and become a better clinician because of it. Like Wynton Marsalis said, it is harder to build than to destroy. The changes are really the only aspect of life with any consistency. I’ve learned time and time again that I cannot plan for my life. Though I actively try, I also am reminded during times of change and uncertainty that living in the sweet spot, the present, is where I need to be. A place where I am thankful for my past and the experiences that brought me to where I am, as well as waiting in hopeful anticipation for the future. I still have no idea where my newly acquired degree will take me, and I flutter between anxiety and eagerness. I struggle with being overly nosey and at this point, I just want to know. I am currently in an obstacle on a speed course and need to remember to pay attention and keep my eyes on the road so I have a better sense of direction to help guide me through. To the ladies in my program who already have jobs lined up, congratulations! I mean that sincerely, I know how hard all of us worked and you definitely deserve it. For the ladies who accompany mean on the obstacle course, the foundation we have been building for the past six years as well as the people who have helped us lay some bricks, will help give us steady ground to complete the obstacle. Once again, thank you, thank you, thank you to all those individuals for your support, guidance, direction, and for helping us to build our steady foundation. To my cohort, we chose an amazing field, we are privileged to help others, we will fail forward, we will always be learning, we did it. Now it’s time to turn and face the strange ch-ch-changes. Bring it. Always, Molly |
AuthorJust a twenty-something attempting to create the illusion that I have a clue what's going on... Archives
May 2017
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