I tell wonder-filled stories about hope and healing
Lady Gaga was one of the headliners at SXSW this year and her message was clear: don’t sell out; sell in. To your art, to making something you’re proud of, to creating the life you want. Dedicate and commit yourself to that. Go all out and all in. It’s the only way to really know what you’re capable of doing.
Today is National Walking Day and Mother Nature is cooperating in New York City with a gorgeous Spring day. I recently wrote a piece for Wise Bread about the 10 Most Surprising Benefits of a 10 Minute Walk. It does a body, and especially a heart, good. Get out there.
On April Fool’s Day, I look forward to one thing: the best posts by The Onion‘s that have me giggling, chuckling, and all-out belly laughing. Hop on over and give it a read. Humor is a beautiful thing to celebrate.
“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” ~ Blake Leeper, Gold Medalist 400m Relay, 2012 Paralympian, soon-to-be first double-amputee American Olympian, and yogi. He amazes, inspires, and motivates me.
“It’s a secular blessedness, to love what you do over a very long period of time. That’s as good as it gets.” ~ John Arras, Professor of Bioethics at UVA
I read this quote in our UVA alumni magazine and it warmed my heart. I feel blessed every minute of every day to do work I love. My days are long and busy, and they are most certainly blessed.
I spend a lot of time mentoring young people, especially those just starting their careers. Yesterday one of my mentees told me a horrific story about the behavior of her boss and co-workers toward her. The stress and abuse are affecting her health. I encouraged her to look for a new job. “I need this job. I left my last job because of an abusive boss after 6 months. I can’t leave this one so soon, too. It will look horrible on my resume.”
You know what would be really horrible? Developing a long-term health problem because of working for awful people who are rude, disrespectful, and unprofessional. Everyone deserves dignity; it’s a birthright. If you’re being treated badly, speak up and if your concerns are dismissed, leave. I’ve never been able to tolerate bad behavior and poor treatment, whether it was directed at me or others. I refuse to let it happen on my watch. I walked away many times without knowing what I would do next, and I always figured it out. Here’s the bottom line: you matter. If you don’t matter to the people you work for, then you need to move on. They don’t deserve you.
I took my first trip to see potential new apartments yesterday and with a lot of amenities I don’t need. They are decent deals for what they offer. However, what they offer doesn’t match my needs. Over lunch, I remembered a very wise piece of advice that my friend, Susan, told me about job hunting that applies to so many parts of our lives: don’t compare your options to each other; compare them to what you want. The hunt for a new home continues.
Toward the end of season 1 of House of Cards, a restaurant owner loses his business. The person foreclosing on him asks if he’d like to take a memento. “I’ve never been one for looking back,” he says. We can’t let our past circumstances impede our future. It can strengthen us, teach us, and inspire us. We can’t let it stop us. We’ve got to move up, on, over, and through. The past isn’t changing. The present is what it is. The future is for us to design.
Some people need proof to believe something is true. I’ve often found that if I believe first, then the truth finds me. When I look for goodness, signs that I’m on the right path, hope, and inspiration, I’m more likely to find them if I believe that they can actually be found. And in the rare instance when what I seek I can’t find, I recognize that there is a gap that I am empowered to fill. If I think there needs to be more joy, laughter, peace, kindness, or empathy in a situation, I can create it. It all starts with belief and the greatest belief is this: I have what I need, the world needs what I have, and my only goal is to find the place and time where my gifts can do the most good.
“In the choice to let go of your known way of being, the whole world is revealed to your new eyes.” ~ Danna Faulds, Go In and In: Poems from the Heart of Yoga
No one ever said that letting go was easy. In a little more than a month I’ll be in a new apartment, probably in a new neighborhood in a different borough, and all my patterns will be turned upside down after spending almost 7 years on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
There will be plenty of good things about this change, and there will be plenty of things that make it feel uncomfortable and foreign. I’ll be a stranger in my own life for a while and there’s no getting around that. I’ll see my beloved city from a new vantage point, literally and figuratively.
I’m a bit in denial and also very excited for the newness, the adventure, and the exploration. I’ve decided that I’ll find some way to celebrate all of it – the good, the bad, and the confusing. I’ll laugh and smile and marvel at the fact that I’m still just as capable of turning my life upside down as I was 20 years ago, letting the chips fall where they may, and reveling in it all.
We all need a good shake-up now and then. Perhaps I’ve had more than my fair share, though I wouldn’t change any of them. I’ve never regretted change; the changes are what have made my life what it is and for that I am very grateful.
Christa Avampato 