“Do not rush this Sabbatical that you’re on,” she told me. “If you do it will all be for nothing and you’ll be back in the same place that you were in before you left. It’s like healing a broken leg or recovering from a heart attack. If you try to come back too soon you break your leg again for put stress on your heart that leads to something bad.”
I was leaning over listening to Jane Isaacs Low a program director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. After a very long day working through grants we were at a dinner table with fifteen others so Jane and I had to lean into one another so that we could hear each other.
It was easy to get distracted. The place was packed, Chelsea was getting on an airplane in New York to take off for Italy and these pictures kept popping up on my I-phone that made me look.
I’d called Jane several weeks ago asking if I could have some private time with her to discuss my future plans. As someone who helps oversee a Foundation with $5 Billion in assets, Jane has pretty much seen it all. We enjoy working together and I value her advice.
“Don’t be distracted from your Sabbatical,” she admonished. “Be sure that you completely finish one thing before you begin another.”
I was taken aback. From the moment that I began this journey when I became suddenly single and then resigned from Union Mission almost everyone seeking to give me advice has told me the opposite. They looked at it as though I’d fallen off my bicycle and the only thing that I need to do was to get back on and ride again.
Everyone else assumed that I had retired and congratulated me on it.
After six months, Jane is the first person to advise me to take care of this time that I have for me.
Then we moved on to talk about the things that I want to do after the Sabbatical is over. She was extremely helpful giving me great counsel and terrific advice.
I am sitting in a coffee shop in the Ft. Lauderdale Sheraton contemplating these things. It is easy to get distracted because girls in bikinis keep walking by me.
Suddenly my coffee is cold.
I was telling someone last night that I feel as though one of my feet is clearly on the ground of this Sabbatical while the other is in the air moving forward. It hasn’t hit the ground yet but there is movement. I feel myself coming back together.
Yesterday I was reminded of how much I have missed being part of a group, debating what is best and how to get things done. We were making hard decisions and though it was difficult, we laughed and enjoyed the work.
Those last few years at Union Mission, the groups that I was part of were mostly comprised of individuals looking out for their own best interest. It distracted us from the things that actually needed to get done. So it was good to be reminded of how good it is to be a part of a healthy group.
So I promise myself that I will not rush to the end of this time of reflection until it is completely over. I’ll know when that is. My gut will tell me. Looking back at all of those times that I didn’t listen to my gut, bad things happened. Emotion most often trumps intellect. I promise to listen to my heart first.
So I will not be distracted.
Hold on … girls in bikinis are walking by.
