Forty years ago, Buzz Aldrin danced on the moon. He did a little kangaroo hop that was watched by 600 million viewers. I was one of them.
Now this 80 year old American icon is dancing again, this time on Dancing with the Stars. 40 million viewers watched. And again, I was one of them.
It’s staggering to consider about how much has changed since Buzz Aldrin’s first dance on the moon. In fact, thinking about this motivated me to create a quick timeline of those 40 years, just to get a sense of the changes I had personally experienced during that span.
I was fortunate that my work during the first twenty years of that period was as a change agent, someone who helped organizations and individuals go through what were often dramatic and fear inducing changes. I even wrote a book about change, creating a model I still use to this day.
And then I went through my own personal dramatic change when I had to give up my consulting practice, benched as I was by what no one knew about in the early nineties, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I wrote a book about that too.
So I am no stranger to change. In fact, I consider myself a Practitioner of it, one who aspires to Mastery, a la George Leonard’s great book of the same name.
But I must confess, sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed by the changes my partner Greg and I have been faced with in the past two years, and I am sometimes a bit daunted by more changes we see ahead. When this overwhelm creeps in, I find it difficult to be creative, to think clearly, to enjoy the beautiful present moment that is always mine.
What I need at these moments varies. A walk in the woods, time spent in meditation, getting on my knees to express gratitude for my life, just as it is. Sometimes an inspiring book, like Wayne Dyer’s There is a Spiritual Solution for Every Problem.
Now I have another source of inspiration — watching Buzz Aldrin on Dancing with Stars. Okay, so he can’t dance worth a darn, but that’s not why he is doing it. He is doing it to show us that we can still dance. Forty years ago we were young, we were powerful, we were full of ourselves and we thought we could do anything. Now we have had the proverbial rug pulled out from under us, and we may be floundering a bit.
So Buzz is dancing again, and I am filled with gratitude that I am here, at this moment, to watch him do it, again.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Kat
Beautifully said.
It so interesting to see how change can be empowering and uplifting, or – when we resist change – debilitating and depressing.
Your post is so timely with our book on Embracing Change due to be published in the next week. Since writing the book with you, I am seeing such beautiful examples of people embracing change to accelerate success that they are having in various dimensions of their life. With his embracing of change, Buzz clearly has accelerated his happiness (and that of his lovely wife who seems to be enjoying his participation almost as much as him).
Since writing our book, I am also more attuned to those I see fighting change. So sad! I hope that our book will help this latter group. Becoming a dinosaur is a fate I wouldn’t wish on anyone!
Kat,
From the time you signed on to my twitter @workecology, there was some spark in you that spoke to me across the screen. It was not about what you did, it was about who you are.
Now I have a better sense of what that means relative to you and your open heart.
When I wrote my coaching brochure last year, and took 3 months to really finish it off like a work of art (you can download it from )http://www.laviniaweissman.com, I created a theme for it based on
this quote from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carol:
“There is no use trying,” said Alice; “one can’t
believe impossible things.” “I dare say you haven’t
had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was
your age, I always did it for half an hour a day.
Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six
impossible things before breakfast.”
- Lewis Carroll,
Alice in Wonderland
I think a person who is honest about change has to have the same attitude of the “Queen of Hearts,” to believe that which is impossible.
Yesterday I answered a question on Maria Shrivers site, “Can Women women have it all?”
I started life in a career I loved in health care and did absolutely extraordinary work as a practice leader. At that time I was young and it was before I had my daughter. I would have at that time answered the question to Maria with a simple, “YES.”
Yesterday I answered the question stating, “I have it all, I get up each day, I can breath, I am a live and I love life; that is what having it all means to me now.” The rest is icing on the cake, I find ways to express gratitude for, thank others for their contribution and respect the miracles and gifts I never expect to receive.
I coach people who “live with high degrees of uncertainty.” For the most part, these are people who live with a chronic illness or recover from a life threatening episode of health and have to reclaim there life by design at home, work and in community again.
This does not mean we can do it all. We can do some things well. Buzz Aldrich represents a great metaphor for that. I would vote for him any day over a person who is seeking to have it all the way many people do the “Hollywood way.” That is not to say that all Hollywood people are greedy or bad. Some I respect count their blessings and share their abundance with others with a deep purpose to make a difference.
thanks for linking Buzz to your present…and mine too.
I remember seeing him on the moon with my brothers and parents around me.
And, if he can “dance” at 80 – I can create my next act too.
Keep creating…it freaks people out,
Mike