Hi,
Welcome to the Sunday Email for February 26th. I'd like to introduce a series I've wanted to write about for a long time. It's called Home and it's about The Hero's Journey. If this series resonates with you, shoot me a note and let me know! If you are just joining us, click here to start at the beginning or reread past emails.
The Call: A Nudge
In 2021, I found out I had been selected for a leadership position that is the pinnacle for most Army leaders’ careers. However, I was conflicted. And not just surface-level conflicted, I was deeply conflicted.
On the one hand, I was comfortable in the position I currently held, I knew the ins and outs, and I enjoyed the company of the people I worked with. My family and I had amazing friends. My wife loved her coworkers. My kids’ friends were like family. We were happy in our small town. If I took the job, there was no guarantee of what we could expect on the other side of that decision. Not only would I be taking on a challenging role where I would probably have to spend more time away from my loved ones, but we also ran the risk of doing it without our established support system.
Yet, the job offered me the opportunity to put a decade of ideas I had developed as a leadership blogger and podcaster to the ultimate test: reality. I would be able to provide people with the leadership I had always wanted. As a family, we would be able to see parts of the world that some people spend their life savings to experience. I also knew that I would be tested and learn important lessons about myself. Heck, all of us would be tested and taken out of our comfort zones, and each of us would learn something about ourselves.
Both options had their pros and cons. But which path was the right one? The comfortable one or the one with challenges and opportunities? Now, that’s some scary Hero’s Journey sh*t.
After I went back and forth about whether or not I would accept the job, I finally concluded that I would turn it down. Accepting the job had way too many unknowns for my liking.
But, the universe isn’t easily deterred. Enter the herald.
Remember, the herald’s job is to get the story moving along, to tell the hero the time has come to seek the prize, and, if need be, turn the hero’s world upside down. Sometimes it takes a slight nudge to get the hero’s butt off the beach (Odysseus hung out on Calypso’s island for 7 years before casting off).
Heralds are real. They could be friends, family, work associates, or someone we don’t even know. You may have been a herald for someone else’s journey and not even know it.
On December 13, 2021, I had an unexpected encounter with a guy I barely talked to. The encounter was so random that I made a note of it in my journal. Here’s the quick summary: J.C. approached me at work and said he’d been thinking about what I should do about my next job. This is the crazy part. This wasn’t some ongoing conversation we’d been having. Matter of fact, I hadn’t seen J.C. in months. He told me I should take the job I was about to turn down because he thought I would learn a thing or two about myself and get a sense of fulfillment in taking the leap. And honestly, the fact that he said all of it in his native Haitian accent, made it even more powerful. I debated about sharing that last fact, but I thought it was too good to leave out.
J.C. was the nudge I needed. Immediately following that conversation, I embraced the upcoming role and began to prepare for it instead of pushing back against it. As I sit here typing this, I’m grateful for a conversation that might not have even registered with J.C. as significant. This job was the best thing for me and my family, but I’d refused it at first.
Thankfully, the universe doesn't give up easily or I might have refused that Call. What I'm asking you to do is open your mind to possible heralds in your life. Is someone nudging you to answer the Call?
Thanks again for signing up for this email!
One more thing! Copies of My Green Notebook: "Know Thyself" Before Changing Jobs are currently on sale for a limited time on Amazon! If you are looking for a way to get into journaling, check it out!
Over at the Blog we have the following new posts:
New Episodes of the Podcasts!
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