Today is the Day to Use Your Wings

I love meeting new people. And, I especially love meeting new people who have a story to tell that is inspirational. Like how to get yourself out of a rut. I too often hear people complain about their jobs or their lives and how they wish for change. But, almost before the next breath, they are telling me why they can’t change their “awful” existence. The excuses are boundless, but still they continue in the rut. And, as they say, the only difference between a rut and a grave is its depth.

So, here’s the story. I’m asking someone about how she became the Executive Director of a very important non-profit, charitable organization that provides short-term crisis support to victims of crime, tragic circumstance and disaster. Turns out, she had a job as a parish secretary and was withering on the vine; unchallenged and in a career rut. She tried to find another job that would challenge and excite her. However, her resume was a show stopper. Most people (myself included, I confess) don’t know what a parish secretary does and whether the responsibilities involve only serving tea to the priest or organizing the annual bake sale. (They don’t, but that’s not the point.)

So, brave soul that she is, she decides to quit, rather than die on that vine, and go on EI. But not to be feeding at the public trough, she signs up for a program called Job Connect. She works for a local municipality doing special events and community building functions. She builds her skills and her network and displays her abilities and strengths. Along comes the opportunity at the charitable organization and she has now demonstrated to the world that – job titles aside - she is capable of far more than the previously perceived “would you like a scone with that tea” job. Point is, she employed those skills all along as parish secretary, but nobody knew because the title of the job defined her as something lesser.

She moved sideways in order to move up in her career. She took risks. She stepped off the cliff and was prepared to fall and fail. She didn’t just stay in the job and complain to anyone who cared to listen that it wasn’t for her any longer. And now she is playing an important role on her new stage. Even though she was the same person throughout her journey to today, she now has a title in an organization that shouts: Wow! An inspirational story.

When I left a big-title, big-responsibility job at the City of Toronto, I had nothing to fall back on but my skills and my determination. A friend of mine gave me a card that said:

When you come to the edge of all the light you have,
and must take a step into the darkness of the unknown,
either there will be something solid for you to stand on,
or you will fly

Time now for you to take that step. Use those invisible wings that we all have. And, safe flight!