Do you ever feel like a complete and
utter failure? I'll admit that at times
I feel rather lost. Once one exits the
camaraderie and competitive culture
of the corporate world, it's natural to
feel like you may have lost your mojo.
Suddenly the very idea of being glued
to one's phone 24/7 or worrying about
not responding to e-mails within five
seconds seems as foolish as it really is.
The fact is life goes on and at least in
my case I'm finally LIVING. Yet why
do I feel so dumb?! Have I lost it?
The other morning I joined a group
of out-of owners for breakfast. Said
collective were beyond intrigued by
our community. Hence they wanted
to do a deeper dive with a somewhat
kindred spirit i.e. me. Frankly, I was
ill prepared for their onslaught of
questions, opinions, and conjecture.
Given I'm no expert beyond my area
of expertise, I found it rather hard to
answer their queries in as qualified a
manner as I would have like to. And
trust me, that didn't feel all that good.
I've always had to learn the hard way.
And fortunately frequent attendance
at the school of hard knocks has been
beyond beneficial to my growth and
success. Hence after I licked my early
morning wounds I got rather excited.
That's because being on the wrong end
of the stick was more than illuminating.
You see, after more than a year here in
the domestic equivalent of Siberia - I'd
lost touch with reality. Hence meeting
it over a breakfast burrito was rather a
wake up call. And I got the message...
Most of us want to be rescued. And
from my experience that's the case
here in Lewistown Montana. Rather
than finding a way to make things
better, many locals prefer to sit and
wait for a knight on a white horse
to save us. Sadly, the calvary is not
coming. Nor to my knowledge are
we on the next messiah's itinerary.
We can only change our destiny if
we're willing to do something that
alters our future. Therefore we all
have to think and act differently.
It's rare that anybody truly catches the
big fish. We can't assume that anybody
who's not one of us wants to join our
clan. Rather than sit and wait for our
ranks to grow - we're going to have to
sling some proverbial fertilizer to get
things growing. Post meeting with the
enemy, I'm reminded that people with
money have plenty of options as to
how and where to spend it. Therefore
unless we provide them with plenty
of reasons for spending it here, they'll
pack up their wallets and go HOME.
Whether we're ready or not, we've got to
get into THEIR groove. There's no doubt
we want this place we love to survive
and succeed. Which means we're going
to have to push our personal envelopes
in order to make that happen. Of course
we could sit back and hope for the best.
But we gain little by having the nicest
house on the block if the town it sits in
is abandoned. Therefore post my early
morning bitch slap I'm ready, willing,
and possibly able to do whatever it will
take to get to next. How about you?