Shifting Gears

Shifting gears can be really hard.  How many of you remember learning to drive a standard?  I remember the exact moment.   I had gone home to help with the family construction business one summer.   It was a hot summer day we were finishing up a concrete job.  I finished loading the truck with lumber and forms, and then asked the question, “Now what can I do?”  My brother said, “Drive that truck back to town”.  Total terror took over my body.  He thought I knew how to drive a standard and I sure wasn’t telling my younger brother I didn’t know how.  Where was I when that lesson was being taught?  I quickly responded, “Sure”.  How hard can it be?  I had watched my dad do it for years……… you wait until the engine sounds like an airplane then you push the clutch and go to the next gear.   I won’t share all the details; however, laughter and tears were involved.  The truck and I did make it back to town, although I never did ask how long the clutch on that old brown truck lasted. 

Today as I look back on the experience, it was a life lesson that I didn’t get until now.   I didn’t learn to drive that truck out of a book or manual.  I learned by just being and trying.  It also taught me you can’t be in 5^th gear all the time.  With each shift there are learnings and experiences to be gained, even if you don’t think you are paying attention you are learning.    If you try and stay in 5^th  gear all the time you really miss so much of the journey.  You don’t see the flowers, hear the birds, smell the ocean or experience the abundance that surrounds you.

For the past decade my work life has consisted of literacy, Essential Skills and community development.  This summer my oldest daughter said, “Mom I hope I can find a career that I am as passionate about as you.”  Wow!  That was the moment I truly realized my passion for reading, learning and working in community had transformed into a career.  How could I have missed that?  The answer is simple I had been in  5^th gear far too long.   That’s what I did, I focused on the deliverables of the contracts constantly worrying about the end results and deliverables, and not paying enough attention to the incredible learning the journey had to offer.   

A project is about the story you can tell, words of wisdom from a project consultant.  The ALES project has helped me to see that working in high gear is not optimal.  Being accepting of each day’s journey and celebrating every step we take is the real value.  Alegha,  Michael and other individuals involved with the project have guided me through much learning and have shown me so many different ways of knowing and learning.  They cannot be articulated or explained, they just are. 

Now as the project moves into the final year I want to spend more time in the lower gears and not racing through to reach the end.  I want to pay attention to the stories, to the magic of the work, and explore different ways of learning and knowing.

Today I started.  I looked at the big words on my whiteboard “Things to Do”, I erased tasks and now my “Things to Do” list says:

• Smile
• Be respectful
• Create safety
• Laugh
• Be joy fille
• Strive for balance

The work will still happen, the project will be completed and best of all I will have lived the stories in ways I have never understood before.