June 2, 2021
A layer of thick fog rests on the floor of this forest in south Charlotte, NC. Unlike the scenes we’re being shown on the planet Mars. We’re amazed by the rover Perseverance and its way of documenting a completely different experience. No trees. No tall grass. No poison ivy clinging to the atmosphere with hairy tentacles. Just a bunch of rocks and rolling hills. A surface so bare that you can’t help but wonder what life would be like if we were there. A life with no connection to the beauty of this planet. I remember how I reacted to the state of Arizona when a radio station tried to hire me in Phoenix. I stepped off that plane and knew right away how I didn’t want to accept anything they offered. I’m from Carolina where everything is always green. To belong to a desert was a change in life my imagination couldn’t handle. Which is why when I see fog in my forest I’m energized. The presence of Now. Allowing the mind and heart to expand beyond the imagination. In your own walk and way it’s time to step into and within the birth of new growth. But first you have to identify with what growth is. Businesses speak of it daily. But as an employee or a dreamer are you moving through the motions and experiences? The reason why so many people have elected not to return to their jobs is simple. There’s no growth only expectation. They want. They need. They command. They threaten. The American dream right? What is growth? You got an entire year of it between March 2020 and today. Space to find you. To see your true self in the mirror. To grow a pair. Growth. I love it that businesses are struggling to locate employees. This is your chance to ask, “What’s in it for me?” What is growth? How can there be if everything you’re thinking about is based on family and survival. That’s where the current flow of growth exists. Family and survival. Not career survival but personal growth. A new layer of success has been given permission to evolve. What you decide today will determine if the new normal is nothing more than returning to the I Hate My Job mentality of success. You can’t be the head of a department and not lead. Remove your position on the totem pole and find your growth. Teach it to the point that your coworker or student are strong enough to replace you. That’s real leadership and growth. Create the fog on the forest floor. Be the maker of what attracts the imagination.