by Lois Barth, Human Development Expert, Speaker, Coach, and Author

It was a cold night. I stumbled into the bedroom to turn on the light and turn up the heat! Little

did I realize the proximity of the exercise bike that’s more like a clothes hanger for my sweetheart’s sweatpants was way closer to my path than I thought? Ouch! My pinkie toe hit the cold metal base. I fell sideways into the maple lacquered table. The small porcelain shoe came flying off and cracked cleanly into two pieces and fell right next to the more statuesque larger one, that stood up proudly, unscathed, next to it, as if to say, “Sorry Kid, you’re not as strong as me!” I turned on the lamp and there it was an unfortunate accident, but mostly a rich metaphor, of what really happens when the other shoe drops!

As the year draws to a close, I couldn’t help thinking about the irony of that image. As both a motivational speaker, a resiliency speaker in NYC, and a coach, I’m often brought in to work with groups and individuals and give them strategies to help them to feel more engaged, and productive, and communicate better.

With all the challenges and changes teams are going through, the stress and tension of continuing to keep at a certain pace I know the fears in the back of their mind are often “waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

I took a long minute to gaze at the broken porcelain shoe. I had a bittersweet smile. My former partner (who I still have a very good relationship with) bought it for me over 10 years ago when we were on a trip. At the time, it was filled with deep sentimental feelings, and now not so much. Now it was a tchotchke on a table taking up space and collecting dust albeit lovely in its own right. I saw the options ahead of me. I could glue it back together even though there would be that seam through the middle, or I could throw it out. Either way would be fine.

Many times, in life, we’re either juggling many projects, or deeply seeped in uncertainty, trying to control a situation, in the back of our minds we start negatively fantasizing about things falling apart, and fearing what would happen. That’s human. But what if we were to stop, and really breathe and ask ourselves, “what if it did?” “What would we do?” “ “What choices could we make? We’d see it’s maybe not so bad, and that we have way more choices than we realize, and we could let go breathe and enjoy the moment more. We could take more inspired risks, and let off the results?

So, I ask you right now, whether you’re a leader at work or in your family, or just for yourself, how can you embrace uncertainty more, and feel the need to control less? What would you say? How can you step into that right now?

I’d love to know.

If you’re looking to make some changes in both your personal and professional life, so you can experience greater meaning, impact, and fulfillment, I’d love to set up a time to speak!