ROAD TO THE PERFECT WORLD
Almost thirty years ago, when I was a headhunter, I coined the term, “Road to Your Perfect World”. Perfect World is a bit misnomer though. It appears to be a destination — a sort of Shangri La. A place where you can say you’ve arrived. That’s not it at all though. The Perfect World is the journey. I believe our life’s journey travels on a flow, a confluence of stimuli and cerebral processing. The more experiences we have, the more tributaries of stimuli that add to our flow. The more flow that runs through our lives - the more complex and unpredictable our lives will be. This could be either good or not. It pretty much depends on how we’ve trained our tangled mess of a brain to deal with it.
A lot of what I think about (and correspondingly write) is society and how to make it better - at least in my humble opinion. Maybe the biggest paradigm we have to tackle is our unwillingness to embrace change and fluidity of viewpoints. We assume changing positions is a weakness, a lack of resolve. It's just the opposite. It’s proof of mental development and ability to navigate a wildly changing world.
“Change isn’t the rejection of our past. It is the affirmation of our future.” — Angela Hamby
HISTORY
I've had a lot of change in my life (both my own doing and not); and I’ve spent lots of time thinking about the experiences that drove this change. My menagerie of experiences spans everything from raising my daughter as a single father, promoting rock concerts, championing solar and wind energy in the ‘80s, to headhunting talent, to publishing award-winning creative directories, to living in the dirt in a tent for two years (more nights than not), and most recently spending a decade in a rural outpost in Montana caring for my elderly parents.
Most of that time caregiving, I was battling blood cancer and a chemo-decimated immune system. I took the pandemic very seriously, especially living in a libertarian state where no one will be told what to do - especially wearing a mask. That said, Montana is in the past now that both parents have passed. The release of caregiving responsibilities is a relief, tinged with the anxiety of "what's next?".
If you’re interested in a more conventional display of ‘history’ — go to my LinkedIN profile.
OFF-RAMPS
The road to my Perfect World road has been like a ‘box of chocolates', as my Australian friend, Annalie Killian says: “Sometimes it’s good and … well sometimes, it’s like those awful ones with the cherries in them”. Thank God for a waterproof tent and: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger". There’s always another chocolate at the next off-ramp.
One of these off-ramps I’m currently exploring is Melvin’s Neighborhood. The Neighborhood is an alternative civic construct that uses nudges and geo-tagged prompts to drive community-wide resident well-being. The civic component uses a rhizome-like private sector system of resource maximization to address our community opportunities and needs being neglected. The nesting ground for a network of situational leaders provides a public/private synergy with a community’s well-being and health of our small businesses acting as civic Front Porches, or informal meeting hubs.
That's just one of the stops I’m making. After ten years in the caregiving trenches, I definitely have things to say about that too. Same with healthcare; especially with my chronic cancer experience. Plus, having moved back to the Los Angeles area, there will be a plethora of stimuli to serendipitously synthesize into something. But this probably means tempering my Covid hesitation and getting out into the world. Regardless of how you do it, sometimes you just have to make what you want to be part of. 😊
This blog will give you an “over the shoulder” view as I journey on. Mostly I'll be looking out the window, thinking about stuff from the past and what can I pull from it that could be made applicable for today (maybe that’s kind of a getting old thing). There are many uses for a well-formed deep dive. Mind muscle is often neglected. I’m going to make it a point to not let that happen
Grab yourself a cup of tea or coffee ... or even a glass of vodka if you prefer (There's sure been plenty of times I have - probably more so than I would like to admit. Past times behind.). Regardless, the metaphorical door is always open, and there's always a Rabbit Hole to fall into.
Clay
