So…we’ve been navigating this journey for quite some time, settling into the comfort of familiar routines and established paths—a natural inclination for humans and all systems, seeking stability and complacency.
While understandable, there lies a certain melancholy in this adherence to the status quo. The transition from leveling off to resisting change is a dangerously short one, a retreat into the safety of the known, despite the inherent knowledge that challenge and disruption are catalysts for growth and improvement.
Often, change is foisted upon you, whether you like it or not. Happens in relationships, happens at work, happens in society, and it happens in government and on the world stage. Close to home, divorce happened to me unexpectedly. The end result? A new marriage relationship and the newness of “having a child”, which I’d spent half my adult life never imagining. I went from independent real estate agent to being part of a team, back to independent agent, then back to being part of a team again. We joined a brand new real estate company that was castigated (I say “feared”) for being an industry “disruptor”. That company is now the #1 real estate company in the country after just a dozen years of existence (just 7 years in the San Francisco Bay Area). All of the competing firms were forced to up their marketing, branding and tech game and figure out ways to better serve their agents, not the other way around.
It’s often said that the definition of insanity is repeating the same actions and expecting different results. Few things are more disheartening than witnessing someone resistant to personal evolution, unwilling to turn a new leaf or take a leap of faith into the unknown.
As we begin a new year, the question arises: Will you enter 2024 clinging to the person you once were, even if that approach has stopped yielding positive results simply because it feels comfortable?
Why not start 2024 with a commitment to actively shape a better life? Take deliberate steps toward becoming the person you know you can be, embracing the challenges and opportunities that change brings.
Rip off that band-aid your psyche’s been wearing to protect yourself from rejection, failure, disappointment, having to learn new things and meet new people. It’ll only hurt a sec.
Happy New Year, All – till next month,
Derek, Natalie, Mo & Arwin
