When Pomp Meets Circumstance

Recently, I attended the graduation ceremony for a dear friend who was receiving her MBA. Hard earned, her coursework had been completed while working full-time, balancing a return to life post-pandemic, and a myriad of big life events. Having just secured a new job, she's ready to take on the world in the next phase of her career.

Looking around the room, the grand scale and hundreds of eager graduates adorned in their caps and gowns made for a spendid display of "pomp." Signs of celebration were everywhere, accompanying the auspicious circumstances of the occasion.

Who knew that a line from Shakespeare's Othello and a set of marches written by Edward Elgar in 1901 would come to define the ceremonious nature of this transition? Certainly, this milestone marked much more than the signature walk across a stage to collect a piece of paper.

I sat in the audience struck by how representative this moment truly was - and how easy it is to gloss over opportunities to bring intentionality to the important transitions of our lives.

As the graduation speaker got up to speak, the familiar refrain sang out:

"Graduates, as you embark on the next phase of your life..."

The speaker went on to offer bits of advice - words of wisdom - that might accompany these accomplished, hardworking, and motivated individuals on the next phase of their journey. What a moment of opportunity, to bask in celebration and move fearlessly toward change, embracing the next unknown.

Having recently published a book on the same topic, titled Embracing the Unknown, I found my mind swirling with the bits of wisdom I might offer in the midst of the pomp and circumstance of this sort of occasion. Here are my "Pomp, meet Circumstance" takeaways for this season of graduation, transition, and change:

1. Stay curious. This will not be the first, nor the last, time you find yourself at an intersection of transition and change. Staying curious means letting go of judgment, asking instead what can be learned. Lean into questions rather than make assumptions, and notice the glimmers that may appear - moments that may spark excitement and joy. Although each circumstance may look different, you can always choose the "pomp" you bring to important moments of transition.

2. Trust Yourself. It's tempting to think that you need to look outward to develop the skills and resources you need to thrive on your path forward, but the tools you need are already inside you. Adaptability, Resilience, and Courage have led you to this moment, and these tools are the exact same companions that will be ready to call upon as you continue on your way. Lean into the ways you can reframe your circumstances, learn from experience, and continue to show up, even when things get hard. Your strengths will help you show up as the person you most want to be.

3. Lead with authenticity. Authenticity means honoring who, what, and where we are at any given moment. Leading with authenticity means offering space for others to be fully who they are while extending compassion for the way(s) that our circumstances influence how we show up each day. In this way, we can become visionary leaders who honor and value wholeness - something that will inevitably change the world.

4. Choose to choose. From friends to business decisions, your choices are yours to make. Actively choosing to choose is intentionality in action. Ultimately, it’s not whether choices are right or wrong - it’s just about making them. Each moment of intentional choice is a radical act of empowerment that takes you closer to your next right step on the pathway forward.

5. Embrace your next "here." It's tempting to think that once we get "there" we'll have arrived. Rather than searching for points of arrival to be our final destinations, what happens when we recognize that we've just landed at another jumping-off point? The unknown is just that, unknown. But what if we learn to go willingly? It's about the journey, not just the destination.

This is one of many moments in your life where your circumstances will offer you the opportunity to meet pomp - the celebration of stepping forward into your next unknown.

Your next adventure awaits: take a deep breath and begin. You're already on your way.

Can I change? Yes, you can.

"What's on your mind?"

A simple enough question - one I often take for granted. When I'm sitting with a friend enjoying a catch-up over a cup of coffee it's a great way to reconnect and get a better sense of what's been happening in their world. After the past few years, I now recognize how important (and valuable) this question can be.

Three years ago this month, the world was thrown into the great unknown. A series of unprecedented and unexpected changes were thrust upon us all. Our health, safety, and sense of solid ground were challenged. It wasn't easy. After a few turbulent months of reorientation, things started to change. A staggering amount of adaptation, resiliency, and courage helped us arise from the ashes, putting a new spin on situations and circumstances that were far from optimal.

At every layer of our lives, we were shifted, and things haven't been the same since. "Zoom" became more than just a word to describe a fast-moving vehicle - it became a household name and a portal to a new way of connecting. The QR code, invented in 1994, made its splash onto the scene: according to Statista, there were over 75.8 million scans in 2021, and 2022 statistics were up over 400%. For some families, it was a struggle to survive; for others, it was a chance to redefine priorities and reclaim a sense of purpose and direction in the world. More than ever, it seems that our world is ripe for new ideas and full of inspiration to dream bigger, think bolder, and take risks.

Sometimes I want to ask the world the same question: "What's on your mind?" I often wonder what would happen if we could take the collective pulse of our society and what we might learn in the process.

Well, thanks to our handy friend, Google, now we can.

It may not be a secret that technology can track what we search for, but what might be interesting to note is what we can learn. Google Trends looks at the questions on our minds, the ways we are inspired, and the experiences that define us. In 2022, the question of the year was "Can I change?" Following 2021's question of the year, "Can I heal?", it may not come as a surprise that the current topic on the minds of many individuals and organizations has been one of change.

In their year-in-review video, Google shares "As the world reemerged, people searched for new ideas, new possibilities, and new ways forward."

(Watch the full video here.)

Change - and the unknown - can be scary. But with the right tools and strategies, change is something we can not only embrace but enjoy.

Being adequately resourced is one of the most critical aspects of navigating change. It’s tempting to think we need to turn outward to collect the tools we can use to support our process. But before looking for resources and tools we think we don’t have, we can look to the past to remind us of three major tools in our toolbox: Adaptability, Resilience, and Courage.

This "ARC" of tools gives us a starting point for navigating a path that isn’t often straight. If that's the case, our tools need to be flexible. These three tools—Adaptability, Resilience, and Courage—give us an “ARC” that allows us to move into change armed to take on whatever lies ahead.

Circumstances keep shifting and we keep adapting.

Barriers and roadblocks may (temporarily) hold us back, but we use each opportunity to get up, show up, and try again.

Even when things are uncertain and unknown, we take a step forward with courage.

If the last few years have shown us anything, it was that we are stronger than we knew and braver than we thought. Using tools and strategies, we can begin to construct our future. What lies ahead is a path that we can build, one step at a time.

Can we change?

Yes. We can, and we will.

Conscious Connections

Life consists of connections. We are constantly engaging with our world, those around us and even ourselves. In fact, these points of intersection become defining in not only giving us insight, but moving our lives forward. They appear in all shapes, forms, and ways - all bringing with them a sense of potential.

If we begin with the fact that there are connections happening all around us, questions emerge:

How do we view them? 

What do we do with them?

Do we consider them opportunities or challenges?

Do we look at connections in our lives with curiosity or with skepticism? 

The truth of the matter is, we must begin by establishing where we are. Only then can we determine where we want to go. I’ve often spoke about the idea that “we don’t know what we don’t know.” And this gives us a starting point. Pathways then begin to emerge: some from connections which we have already established and explored, others that seem to be newly illuminated. Either way, we start to see them differently. 

At times, we can get caught in a loop of confusion and overwhelm if we feel we “don’t know”, or experience a kind of paralysis that results from being unsure of how to process the seemingly unending options in front of us. But acknowledging we don’t know is sometimes the best way to start, especially if it’s where we are. If we start with where we are, we've already made an important decision, and in doing so things begin to open up.

We give ourselves the freedom to simply start. 

In this simple act, we give permission, which in turn allows the process to be not just a reaction, but an interaction. An exploration. Even a dance. The inevitable give and take, back and forth of the journey can then start to be something we not only embrace, but enjoy. 

So ask yourself today: Where am I? And what can I choose to begin? 

Pause for a moment, and see what pathways appear. Take a deep breath and start moving. You're on your way. 

"The journey between what you once were and who you are now becoming is where the dance of life really takes place." Barbara DeAngelis