What are YOU Waiting For?

We’ve all heard it: that old quote about necessity being the mother of invention.  It’s startling how few of us actually heed its implied advice: don’t wait for necessity: get creative, do more, be more, awaken!  When you start to look around, it’s actually frightening how most of us tread water through life, doggy-paddling through status quo until something  jerks us awake… wide awake.  Something erupts that is so big, so loud and so threatening that you begin to become awake to all you might never be–and suddenly there is urgency.

I have always considered myself  “enlightened.”  I have devoted decades to my personal growth and to a career of coaching others to make their dreams a reality.  I have been focused on productivity and helped other to do the same.  I have been a fulfilled, happy person who lives out loud and brings energy to everything I do.  I have juggled being a wife and mother with being a profitable business owner.  I have achieved financial and personal success.  I’ve led what I thought was a charmed life… yet, there were still things in my life on the back burner, on my “one day list.”  

Then, one day, June 13, 2008 to be exact, I found out I had cancer.  A few days earlier, I had undergone my first routine mammogram at age 40.  Entering into an office filled to the brim with grim faces, I knew what they had found was not good.  Doctors told me they had discovered Stage 2 breast cancer that had spread to 2 of my lymphnodes.  They wanted to operate immediately and said that the almost one-and-a-half inch tumor had likely been growing inside me for more than 5 years.  Suddenly, faced with 5-year survival statistics and an engineer husband who kept working out the data and the percentages, I was wondering how many more “one days” I might have left.

Wake up call

What followed was 8 long months of surgeries, chemotherapy and treatment that I used as a “cocooning” time for re-inventing myself.  I shaved my head, got a pink mohawk and surrendered to every challenge with a smile and as much fortitude (and attitude) as I could muster.  My best friend shaved her head too, and my community rallied to support me.

I spent those long months asking myself: “If I only have 5 years left, what will they look like?  Who do I want to be?  What difference do I want to make in life?”  The answers were new and fresh and invigorating.  I discovered that my personal passion lies in community impact; that my health and my family come first.  I created more balance and more love than I have ever experienced before.  My hard edge softened; my drive became more measured.  I let go of goals that were no longer a priority, and some that were actually getting in the way.  I brought balance to my goal planning and began to intentionally design my life.  I realized that community is my passion… that every person is a hero.  Some, with dreams inside laying dormant, waiting for discovery.  Others, passionate and in action but overwhelmed by the job in front of them.

The real lesson I learned is balance.  No matter who you are or what you have achieved, life has more to offer.  Being awake to these gifts requires balance, and balance requires difficult choices.  You must choose to make your own commitments your priority and decline opportunites that do not fit with your vision. 

All of us have it in us to dig deeper.  Dig deeper for what’s really important, and intentionally create a life that brings us joy.  Balance is the key to success and true happiness.  Prioritizing is what gives us balance and has us continue to come alive and be awake in life. 

If necessity is the mother to invention, what can you do today to make balance a necessary part of your life?