Pie And Another Spin Around The Sun

Here we are again, facing the gasping breaths of another spin around the sun. What have we learned? What have we accomplished? How much pie will I actually eat by year’s end? Lean in and I’ll share it all with you.

I recently had the privilege to hear Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) speak here in Charleston. And while there was a lot of wisdom to be gleaned, I walked out repeating a single mantra: 

It’s all gonna’ be all right. 

For someone like myself, who needs to organize, control and minutia-manage, this concept of breathe and let go, is foreign. Liz (‘cause we’re now on a first name), referenced the conversation Job had with God when Job asked “Why?” and God responded with “Have you ever commanded the day?” This hit me like a ton of bricks. Shocking as this may be and try as I might, I have never had even the slightest influence on the rising and setting of the sun. Imagine that.

So, I’ll take the breath, relax and repeat, “It’s all gonna’ be all right.” I’ll affect change where I can, and offer gratefulness to those who have changed me (thank you Liz).

Isn’t it funny how when you make a plan, the path forward is straight and plain? Then, when you look back over the path of the plan it’s mountainous, precarious, full of switch-backs, cliffs and a zip-line or two. Yeah, I think every year is like that. We never think it’s going to be, but it always is.

This past year has brought new business challenges and lots of growth (thank you Josh). We’re changing our business model and innovating an entirely new way of delivering soft skills training. We’ve had opportunities to evangelize unique ways to approach customer service (thank you Jackie) as well as how we speak about ourselves and communicate that to the world at large. This year has reinforced to me that how we speak is as important as what we speak.

Together, my husband and I are managing the mine field that is parenting a teenage girl (thank you David). We have to tread carefully and carry buckets of patience and understanding. She and I may live in the same world but our universes are vastly different. It’s a good thing to keep knowing.

Thank goodness for friends. This year, I got a few new ones - keepers. These are the people who prop you up and cheer and support you (thank you Janet). The people who know the true, ugly beauty of you and still return your texts. People who bring you pie and don’t forget the whipped cream. Like I said, keepers.

The world is seldom what we’d like it to be. Perfection doesn’t exist and we can only manage so damn much. So I’m going to re-gift something that was given to me. 

Here it is: Change what you can. Seek knowledge. Expand your heart. Then, breathe and relax.

‘Cause it’s all gonna be all right.

LB Adams is the Founder of Practical Dramatics, headquartered in Charleston, SC.  Her company provides a wealth of soft skills training events that utilize theatre strategies to help humans grow more profitable conversations with other humans. To find out more about training services OR to talk about pie, please reach out to us at 843-771-0753.