Afflicted by love’s madness all are blind. ~ Sextus Propertius
As many of you know, I put my baby dog child Lyra to sleep on Saturday. She was only six and was the light of my life. She burned so brightly in this world, my life is dark today without her. We almost lost her at one year old to leptosporosis – but she beat the odds, came back 100% and we had an extra five years with our blessed girl. Lyra was the most uninhibited, adventurous, no holds barred, pedal to the metal kinda gal I’ve ever known.
Because she was so, so special – I didn’t see the reality coming at me.
Maybe I didn’t want to see it. What I know now is that for the past six months she’s been a bit slower, a bit punky, not her fully vivacious self. Yep, she was still racing up the hill to chase the deer, coyotes, bob cats and mountain lion (yes, you read that right). But she was slower, sleeping more, not quite so quick to jump up and go. More peaceful. Everyone assumed it was just her shiny self slowing down to a normal pace. But now I look back and I can see the signs – the signs I couldn’t or wouldn’t see before. She was dipping and I didn’t see it.
We’d been warned when we got her back from UC Davis that she might not make it more than a year. But she came back full speed. By five years later I’d forgotten that warning. And so – I didn’t see the end coming until it hit me right between the eyes.
How may times are we blindsided by a truth we know is there – but we choose not to see?
I’ve sobbed and sobbed, can’t seem to stop crying. I tell myself it’s the shock – and yet deep inside I now recognize that I knew this end was coming. I simply chose – consciously or subconsiously – to look the other way.
We all do it – in our personal lives and our businesses. It’s part of human nature – we learn our beliefs, hang onto them no matter what and choose so often to see the safety of what we want to see, instead of the scary storm that’s approaching us. When the storm hits – we drop to our knees in shock and ask, “What the heck happened? How can this be?”
Most of us knew the old economy couldn’t last, yet we kept right on spending. We know when our products are failing, our sales reps aren’t winning, our marketing isn’t getting traction, our partners are unhappy, our kids are hurting, our loved ones are slipping away from us, our own bodies are failing.
How often do we look the other way, as hope springs eternal?
I know that’s human nature. In so many ways it’s a blessing that we can hope. Hope is the emotion that keeps us going, even when life appears at its bleakest. I wouldn’t trade hope for the world….it’s been the constant that has been my salvation throughout my life.
But hope can also get in the way of reality. Hope can keep us stuck in the Gravity of the status quo – or the perfect thing to come – when neither are real or available.
That’s the balance we have to find. The balance between the positive of hope and the groundedness of seeing the truth for what it is.
I’m still looking for that balance. How about you?
