I Need to Turn Left, But the Cow Won’t Move!

I recently returned from 2 weeks in India where I was honoured to be co-delivering the first ever, live delivery, of a Royal Roads University program on foreign soil – Our Executive Coaching (CEC) program! While I was expecting a very interesting experience, I was not prepared for the sensory overload that awaited me. From the moment I got off the plane I realized it was going to be amazing. I was filled with excitement AND fear, all at the same time!

ORGANIZED CHAOS – that IS Delhi! A city of 25+ million, it is a city of contrasts. The highways are just a microcosm of this. Although sometimes there are lines painted on the ten-lane roadway, they mean nothing. There are the occasional traffic lights, but again, meaningless. It is a thrill ride way that is more adrenaline producing than anything I have ever experienced.

You are dodging in and out amongst cars, bikes, motorcycles, auto-rickshaws, buses, trucks, live cattle, pedestrians, people riding mules, AND the odd wild hog or occasional monkey 🙂 . It is no exaggeration to say that vehicles are regularly within inches of each other as they drive a good speed with the varied sounds of blowing horns ever present. Here is the absolutely amazing thing – in ten days of driving with our driver in this, several times a day, we never once saw as much as a fender bender. Countless close calls but no accidents.

Sitting in the plane on the way back home, I was reflecting on my own life and as I have been thinking about what I want 2018 to look like, how could what I just experienced inform that? What occurred to me was that my current life has a lot of similarities to the roadways in Delhi. Over 2017, it has evolved to “organized chaos” without me even noticing. In fact I have been taking pride in being able live and be productive in it – total self-deception!! 🙂  

Like our daily taxi rides in Delhi, I have been zigging and zagging through life. Lots of close calls, a few fender benders, but no major accidents…yet.

I realized that I have been living too much in reaction to the world around me – the cattle, the motorcycles, the hog and the monkeys – and not enough in the space where I am choosing and designing what I want. I have been living in a place where choice has seemed limited and for me, that is absolutely stifling. On that plane I decided that I was reclaiming my power to make thoughtful and deliberate choices.

I am taking back control over the design of my life. In the two weeks since being home, I have begun to re-experience and celebrate the joy that comes with stepping fully back into purpose and choice. I had dinner with a dear friend last week and as I described what I am determined to create for 2018, I felt alive. It isn’t that 2017 hasn’t been fulfilling – it has been. The learning is that there is even more of that available to me. It is not about going from broken to fixed, but rather going from great to even greater! For me on that plane, I made the CHOICE to own that I have choices in everything, AND that I alone get to make those choices. I realized I have allowed myself to be somewhat of a “victim” of my environment. I DECIDED THEN AND THERE, NO MORE OF THAT IN 2018! That is MY choice!

What do you believe about what choices you have? Where in your life are you feeling trapped, stuck, or resigned? What stories are holding you hostage, and what stories would set you free?

It’s not too early to think about what are you going to do now to set 2018 up to be your most fulfilled year ever – It’s your choice! What ARE the choices do you have available to you and what will YOU choose?