CHANGE, CHANGE, CHANGE, IS NOT JUST A MISHEARD ARETHA FRANKLIN LYRIC…

Love it, or ultimately despise it, change is a reality we all deal with. Obviously it can have good or negative connotations like everything else on the planet, but depending where you are in life details exactly how we deal with it.

Recently, I heard Dave Grohl (the former drummer of Nirvana & now front-man of Foo Fighters) explain his perception on this topic, “When you’re young you’re not afraid of what comes next. You’re excited by it.”  If you’re older than 35, you’ll know exactly what that means. If you’re younger than 35, well, be patient Grasshoppa! It will make more sense later, long after you’ve forgotten this article.

At 40 years old, looking at the world through a windshield or an airplane window, leaving everything else behind, limited funds in the bank, fear of change is more real than most of us in the western world can fathom.  When we are young, we don’t fear failure, we instead still cling to those loose childhood ideologies that our daydreams can come true, if we just try.  As we get older, and inevitably have fallen face first into a pile crap a few times, we become more cautious about how our lives begin to unfold.

When I was 15, a friend’s father (he was the CEO of ACL in the 80’s before his untimely death) said something to me that I have never forgotten. “If you want something, you need to be willing to risk something in exchange. If you want something bad enough, you need to be willing to risk everything, and that will yield the greatest reward.” I’ve tried to follow that advice the majority of my life. Although admittedly, the older we become, the less willing we are to risk everything. It may seem like a gamble, but in reality I just personally doubled down, and if I win this next opportunity (which starts tomorrow), I get exactly what I’ve always wanted occupationally.

From the east coast, via Costa Rica, I came to San Francisco with the intent on changing the world. While my lofty ideas spin around inside my head, I can’t change anything without risk, but alas I have opportunity on my side due to having an insane passion for wanting to change how the world sees things. I work in the A/V world now, and we have that exact ability­– Every presentation, event, or you name it, occupationally vision can look differently in a myriad of ways.  However, I don’t want to completely focus on work in this article.  Life is less about work, and more about living out the greatest lottery ever won.  Let me explain…

You sitting or standing there reading this are the aggregate of what Professor Dawkins would call “climbing Mount Improbable”. The number of events that had to occur for you just to exist in the first place, mathematically, is mind-boggling. Forget for a moment what it would be like to win the Powerball (a 1 in a 100 million chance) for example, and think of the improbability it took just for your parents to meet, court, mate, and then out of millions of semen, thousands of eggs, and you’re the one that made it.  You have already won the greatest lottery in existence.

Everything we do with this life, no matter the change we encounter, every step should be one of gratitude. When we were children, our parents asked us, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The truth, behind each answer we gave, be it garbage man, fireman, or like mom & dad, etc. The real answer is happy.

I’ve been fortunate enough in my life to see many places around the globe and one of the things completely universal across the board, is everyone has a goal, or a place they would rather be in their life to achieve the position of happy. If you’re not happy in your current position in life, change it. Start today. Make a plan based on your means, and execute it.  90% of us, including myself, were not born into unlimited resources. If you desire something else, somewhere else, what can you do today to get there?

For those of you in the midst of change, it can be a daunting task to swallow the little things we used to take for granted in our old stations in life. Hold on tight, the world is still spinning. As much as you really want to punch the guy in the face who said, “Patience is a virtue”, buck up buttercup, because once you find your stride; take a moment to look at the positive things you have around you.

Since I have a goal I need to search out today myself, I am going to leave you with a quote I shared before, but incase you missed it:

“For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something…almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.” ~Steve Jobs

I’m not saying enthusiasm fixes everything, but moping around because something sucks, does for a fact make things worse psychologically. I can make you a profound and certain promise; It doesn’t matter how rich or poor you are… Not a single person on this planet is getting out alive.

Accept love. Accept peace, and above ALL else be grateful. Change is a fact of life, point your arrow toward “happy”.

~Christian

Seeking Redemption (Not Religious)

Disclaimer- this is NOT a religious post.

Seeking Redemption-

Everyone is searching for some sort of personal redemption. A few weeks ago I left my family in Costa Rica and returned home to the United States. I had received some information that my former employer was ready for me to return to Washington DC.  I came home to what inevitably turned into a 1099 contractor limbo.  I love my employer in D.C. more than any other career location I have ever had. From the CEO on down, the staff is nothing short amazing. However, the recent snowstorm weather, HR being out of the office, and just overall limbo, I have been forced to go out to look for more steady employment.

In the meantime, I drove down to Central Georgia to visit my high-school friends whom I hadn’t seen in many months, while patiently waiting for a call from work. I received a call from a friend on the West Coast who has just landed a new job with Microsoft in San Francisco.  I rented out my condo in Costa Rica, and I booked a ticket to San Francisco from Atlanta.  

In my life, I can honestly say I’ve lived a pretty charmed existence. I’ve been fortunate enough to see the world and do nearly everything I’ve ever wanted to do. Don’t get me wrong, not every scenario is a winner. However, this past week in San Francisco has been one of the best weeks of my life. I sincerely feel like I have won the lottery, and having a friend gracious enough to let me surf his couch for a few weeks while I work on building a new life is nothing short of miraculous. 

Now, let me point out, that starting over is not an easy endeavor. It involves a tremendous amount of wear and tear on the mind, body, soul, and lets be honest—“The worst part about having a job, is finding one.”  I must have sent out 100 resumes over the last week, and of course, being a bit of a perfectionist, I’ve redone all of my resumes about 20x each.  It is necessary to have several different resumes, and occasionally having to mold it to an actual posted position.  My resume, if I actually put all of my skills, and background history on it, is about 8 pages long.  Thus, I’ve made a single summary page with the basics.  HR managers simply don’t care if you once saved the planet if it’s more than a page long. Chances are someone else did too, and it was only one page.

I had a great interview with a company yesterday that caught my attention in many ways, but most of all the recruiter herself was Hungarian. What a phenomenal phone interview. Not only because I felt it went well and I was qualified for the position, but I was talking with someone else who came here to this city, and made it her home. She also loved her employer and found joy in what she did everyday. There’s not many people who can say that. 

About the same time I was leaving Georgia, another acquaintance of mine was doing the exact same thing.  He had spoke to me on Facebook, a few months back about Seattle. I had told him I lived there for a short time before, so he had plenty of questions. He was looking to escape the great southern stigma against people with tattoos and piercings, among other things.  He works in the restaurant industry as a chef, and in our conversations, he told me he was leaving for Seattle the exact same day I was flying out to San Francisco, except he was going by bus. He had no one to meet him when he arrived there, no friends to speak of in the city; only a dream of a better life tucked away in his back pocket, next to a handful of hope. 

We chatted back and forth via text message the majority of his trip, and since I have driven that route a few times, I gave him a few tips of when to keep his eyes peeled out the window. I wanted him to look at how beautiful the countryside is and the mountains along I-90, especially in the Idaho panhandle.  The roads twist and turn as they wrap alongside snowy mountaintops as if they were out of a postcard in a roadside Howard Johnson.

I told him I would connect him with a few friends of mine who live in the Seattle area so he wouldn’t be alone.  As I am a firm believer, there is nothing worse in this world than being in a huge city with no friends, no place to live, and having to find a job starting from scratch.  Within his first 24 hours my friends came through in FINE style. They fed him, got him a few drinks, and even a job opportunity working under a Su Chef there, in downtown Seattle.  I’m not 100% sure, but I hope I helped Chris find his internal redemption. 

Redemption means many things to many people. To me, personal salvation has nothing to do with religion at all.  It is finding your direction wherever it points.  Like the needle on a compass spinning under a magnet, where the staccato notes are slowly swept into chords of memory making a new resonance that firm us onto a new foundation, now supplanted into our collective reverie.

Right now, I am living vicariously by the grace and kindness of my friend Dan and a little bit of money I have saved along the way. Wish me luck my friends and fellow travelers. I believe I have finally found where I am supposed to be.

Life has a way of taking us places we are meant to go, and with kindness in my heart I hope the Hungarian recruiter who made my day yesterday has a new occupational home for me as well. 

Cheers from San Francisco!!!!