What does it really mean to leave the shallow end of the pool and head towards the ocean? (See last week.)
What are the implications? The costs? The sacrifices that need to be made? The fears that need to be overcome? The prejudices that have to be erased? The planning that needs to get done? You get the point……
What are your choices? You can simply float with the tide and become a part of the flotsam and jetsam. You can swim out and hope for the best. You can build a raft or use a surf board and be at the mercy of the waves and current. Or, you can get a boat, navigate a plan and be the master of your destiny.
In all cases you get out of the shallows—but at what cost and with what goal in mind.
It seems to me that we expend the same amount of energy in each scenario, in different ways (maybe).but we still expend, and again I ask at what cost for the outcome?
Think on this:
You might as well fall flat on your face as lean over too far backward.
James Thurber
See where I’m heading?
To get out of the shallows we can float or we can sail. One has the risk of failure the other just takes you along for the ride. Both might get you there…but then what?
Your thoughts???
I can relate to the first statement on a personal level. After ten years working in general advertising at Y&R Barcelona I moved to Wunderman in New York.
The Mediterranean is a quiet sea. Fish are lazy – they have no need to fight the bravery of the open waters. This is probably why shrimp are so tasty in Cadaques. On the contrary, Maine lobsters are mighty warriors, resulting into thicker, whiter meat. Both animals have learned to adapt to their own Rome. It’d be a nonsense to judge which are tastier. I would answer “both”.
I like Barcelona and I like New York, but granted is that what I enjoyed most is the journey. Rediscovering oneself, challenging conventions and facing the unknown.
I think this quote by Theodore Roosevelt sums up what you are saying very well – and I whole heartedly agree with it:
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt
“Citizenship in a Republic,”
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
No matter if we swim or float or sail, first of all, I would recommend to learn how to swim. History teaches us, even the biggest, strongest vessel CAN sink.
I would also recommend to have a goal in mind BEFORE you try your luck swimming or sailing the seas. It also would be a good idea to choose the method of mastering the seas depending on your goal. Chartering an air craft carrier for a short trip to the next island a few miles away might be overdone a bit.
However, being at sea – for us – is only a temporary condition. Sure, it can be fun/relaxing/interesting/whatever, but in the end, I guess, we’re all glad to find us back in a safe harbor or previously mentioned shallows.
Funny — I have an engraved copy of the Teddy Roosevelt quote on my desk — very powerful….
And, while we all need safe harbour — I know I look forward to it — if we dont leave sight of land — we will never get anywhere — and I know we all want to get beyond the horizon! And — bottom line — you are right — we all need to learn to swim…as a price of entry!!
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