I Hear Banjos…Paddle Faster!

The real battle is between my ears.

I’m sitting in my office staring at my whiteboard on the wall. And my other whiteboard on the other wall. And the other one that has fallen to the floor in the corner, the adhesive gone.

There is so much information on all the boards, some days it threatens to overwhelm me. It seems like chaos shows up with every idea we write down.

Planning a launch event. Big picture ideas. Small tactical details. The drawing one of the children did of some cops & robbers.

Almost every day, the mountain of chaos and work threatens to slide and bury me in rubble.

It’s scary.

I could sit here in my office and stew in the stress, or I can pick up the phone and make the call I’ve been dreading.

I could scroll through Instagram another 15 minutes, or I can grab my laptop and start writing for today.

I could throw a pity party for myself, or I can take action and start moving.

At a leadership conference I once heard a speaker say that it’s easier to guide a boat that is moving faster than the river current than one that’s just floating along.

If you’ve been kayaking or canoeing on the Edisto River locally, you know what that’s like. Steering your boat if you are just drifting is waaayyy harder than when you are going faster than the current.

You don’t have to go much faster, but you do have to go faster.

It’s like that in life.

When I’m just floating along, it gets difficult really quickly. I have to start paddling to get ahead of the current to more easily steer toward my goal.

Some days are more difficult than others. Some days spin out of control with the unexpected and it’s all I can do to manage some damage control.

I mean, with four kids, there’s always some sort of damage control going on. *smile*

But after the damage control, it’s time to keep moving and taking action to move forward.

I can’t just sit in the canoe and float along.

When the banjo music starts playing in my head, it’s time to paddle faster.