Perspective.

I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days during their early adult life. Darkness would make them more appreciative of sight; silence would teach them the joys of sound.    - Helen Keller

A year ago, I was fumbling for the right words as a chapter of my life came to an abrupt halt in what I felt was the middle of a paragraph.  Nothing felt worse at that moment than the inability to provide for my daughter, and the guilt I felt about having to start a job-search after I felt my career was carefully selected and preened.  In all reality, it gave me perspective and an incredible gift of being able to acknowledge the plight I saw months down the road as I worked for a government agency writing and delivering curriculum for job seekers.  Perspective offered a different path, and one that led to self-discovery that remained at that time, unimagined.

For almost a year, I worked with those in career transition and in each moment of it, I loved those I met, and was challenged by.  #GoJobSeekersGo, will always remain my favorite hashtag.  I feel incredibly blessed to have had the opportunities to reach higher and farther- even when I wasn’t sure if my reach would matter.  We never really know how much we matter until we stop reaching and others are reaching back.

Monday I start an incredible opportunity: One I never imagined would be mine.  Empowering small business and non-profits to make a difference is a kick-arce blessing.  Perspective is everything.

I believe in cultivating opposite, but complementary views of life, and I believe in meeting life’s challenges with contradictory strategies.  I believe in reckoning with the ultimate meaninglessness of our existence, even as we fall in love with the miracle of being alive. I believe in working passionately to make our lives count while never losing sight of our insignificance.  I believe in caring deeply and being beyond caring.  It is by encompassing these opposites, by being involved and vulnerable, but simultaneously transcendent and detached, that our lives are graced by resilience and joy.  - Fritz Williams