Not What I Envisioned…and I’m Okay with That
April 27, 2015It goes without saying that the last few years haven’t exactly gone according to the plans and dreams I had originally laid out in my head. While I’ve had control over a lot of my own destiny, there’s a lot of things that happened that were beyond my control and that I could only roll with the punches on no matter how much I hated it.
It’s been an unbelievable last few weeks and after having a morning in my home office catching up, I started to pen out some of the amazing things that have lined up recently.
- Nine13 announced our new permanent home
- Nine13 struck a $375,000 hiring incentives package with the IEDC to grow our operations
- I got the first half of the book off for editing
- I finally got to spend Opening Day with my family in Toledo
- I made a job offer to our spring intern, who accepted it and will be joining us in June
- I have the Mira Awards this week and am a nominee in the Rising Star category
- I fly out to PDX this weekend to proudly witness Nine13 Northwest launch school programs
- I took a seat on the Transportation, Infrastructure and Environment Council with the Indy Chamber as we spool up for the 2016 mass transit referendum vote
- I’ve had an amazing list of quality applicants for our two remaining Nine13 positions, people that I never imagined would want to work for me
- I was featured in a live interview this weekend with WTHR this weekend about Nine13sports
That’s a list that includes things I never imagined possible 6 months ago.
it’s odd to see this in print versus on a computer monitor
It’s also a list that includes things that are both dreams come true, but don’t fit the vision I had for them when they were only goals and dreams years ago.
It’s odd to look back and think of how Nine13 started and the success that my original team had hoped for only to continue to achieve that success without them. In fact, the only reason that success came is the very painful reality that it took me running the show on my own for us to have this success in the first place.
I think I struggled with shipping the first chunk of So Much Life in Such Little Time because it’s changed so much from what it started as. Originally, it was supposed to be a co-authored book written by both my ex-wife and myself. Originally, it was supposed to carry the banter of a husband and wife who had been through hell and back. It would have been easy to shelve it after her affair; but I’m glad that I chose to push through it and write the chapters that I never envisioned needing to write.
But, it took all of those life changes; the divorce, the breakup of the original Nine13sports team, the frustration and heartache, the confusion, the disappointment, the isolation–to get to a point where that list above was possible. With everything that happened in 2013, it feels like a dream…or…nightmare(?), however, I know that where I’m at today would not have happened if it had not been for all that ugly.
Whatever happens, it happens, you control what you control and you’re along for the ride for the rest. I’m working on the best way to buff that concept into a keynote speech and I think I’ve got the life history to be able to give some great examples.
I’m hoping to sit down and get some more writing done this week, both for the next part of the book and for this blog. I’ve got a half dozen half finished posts that I want to circle back with and update for publishing.
Enjoy your Monday,
-th