On Living, Leading, (Re)designing, and Coaching

Diving into a sea of unknown

Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always -
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything) ...

- T. S. Eliot (from "Four Quartets")

Today I resigned from my full-time position working as a manager in a hi-tech company. And I have accepted a full-time job working a number of positions with a leading leadership coaching and coach training school.

And with this move, I'm diving into a sea of unknown. Much of what I could reasonably assume about my future is now obsolete. A whole range of possibilities that were open to me have closed. And with that a whole new set of possibilities have - in an instant - opened for me.

I feel a strong and persistent call beckoning me to step into this sea in spite of the fear the unknown brings with it for me. And what is most amazing is that this unknown sea is alive and enlivening to me. And for some reason - this time - I don't feel ungrounded. Instead, I feel grounded by the sense that this sea is where I belong, is where I am, and where I will know myself.

What is your sea of unknown? What stops you from diving in? Is it real?

Love,

-Steve

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice –
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and the wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do –
determined to save
the only life you could save.

- Mary Oliver