It’s easy to say to someone, “Be patient. Things will get better.”
It’s a whole ‘nother thing when you, yourself, are faced with a situation…or a series of situations…where things just don’t go “right.” The people you’re dealing with seem to have been living in a cave for the majority of their adult lives, and the only word they’ve learned to say is “No.”
Welp…welcome to my past year. I’m going to keep specifics out of this for all kinds of reasons, but I need to get this out…to decompress a smidge.
I do still have a “fond” memory of having been told by a long-ago boss, “Kirk, we just don’t do things that way here.” This gentle nudge came as a result of my having exploded and ripped into another employee who had basically done nothing that I had asked him to do regarding an emergency situation that I was trying to handle the PR for. (Note: I later apologized to him for blowing up like that, and we remained friends for the remainder of my time there.)
Most recently, though, I have chosen to get involved in volunteer activities that I have, in previous “lives,” had considerable success managing. I foolishly assumed that this would be the case this time. Wrong!!
Got my knuckles rapped by several people for the way in which I went about things. Got “scolded” by a couple of the same. My gut-reaction was to end my relationship with this endeavor immediately….to figuratively stomp out, slamming the door behind me.
But then I cooled off and have decided that I’m going to make this damned thing work in spite of the resistance that I’m going to get. I know from years of experience that what I’m proposing to do has tremendous potential.
The “lesson” here, my patient reader, is that you’re going to run smack-dab into situations like this in your own future initiatives, either in a business environment or as a volunteer like me. You’re going to encounter people who seem to be dead-set on resisting anything that sounds even vaguely “new.”
Take a deeep breath, and let it out slooowly. Then charge ahead with your initiative. Believe in yourself and your ability to make good things happen. In the end, you will prevail.
“And many a broken heart is here and many a broken head;
But tomorrow,
By the living God, we’ll try the game again!”
– John Masefield, Tomorrow
