Have you ever been waist deep in the ocean and got clobbered by an unassuming wave? You frantically find your footing only to get slammed with another wave. You struggle to regain your balance and then get another ear full of ocean by the next wave. Rinse and repeat until you finally retreat to shallower waters. Have you ever experienced this mother nature beating? This can be the frightening reality when you are not prepared to meet the rhythmic power of the ocean.
The idea for this post came to me after my wife and I watched the movie, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (no longer in theaters). Don't judge…I'll watch anything (just ask my Netflix queue) because there is always something to learn from Hollywood's multi-million dollar projects. Plus movies communicate so much about today's culture. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is no different and in this heart-warming flick, a group of strangers entering their golden years search for a new life by traveling from around the world to visit The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in India.
The actress, Judi Dench, narrates most of the movie and had this to say upon arriving in India: "This is a new and different world, the challenge is to cope with it. And not just cope but thrive."
You don't have to go to a different country to come to the conclusion that we live in a new and different world. No matter what phase of life you are in, there are aspects of life and technology that are in a constant state of motion. Never ceasing to stop or allowing you to catch your breath. The coming change is as vast as the ocean, with no end in sight and the further out in life you get the taller the waves are and the deeper the water gets.
At the end of the movie, Judi Dench gives us hope with the right way to deal with the relentless waves of change: "At first you're overwhelmed but it's like a wave and if you do nothing you'll be knocked over but if you dive in you'll swim thru."
Standing still is not a strategy. You must act to overcome the overwhelming.
Like the waves of our oceans, change is constant. We are all already waist deep in the ocean of life, so it comes down to a decision. A decision to accept the reality that the waves of change will not cease and will not have mercy on us because we are not prepared. Create a next generation mindset that willingly accepts constant change. Dive and rise. And eventually you'll find calmer waters beyond the breakers. That is until...you drift back in :)
Make the decision today to dive in and thrive thru.
Question: What overwhelming wave will you dive into today?
