Going With Your Gut
Unlike the very clear signage and grid structure that guide the average pedestrian around most modern urban and suburban settings, easing the choice and analysis of “where to go”, sometimes, the signs in front of us, can get confusing and downright irrational.
That’s one of the things I’ve noticed here in Bermuda. And it’s one of the reasons I fell in love with this little island as a child and later on as an adult as I discovered and rediscovered it over and over with every visit.
And why I decided to move here permanently after my 6 months of quarantining here during covid last winter.
Things don’t always make “sense” and it’s time to put away our rational/analytical minds in favor of “feeling” it out a bit and trusting your gut.
This has NOT historically been a comfortable thing for me to do, even though I’ve had to do it many more times than I’d like to admit.
To put it plainly, after years of dedicating myself to companies, I’ve been laid off or outright fired at least 3 times due to unforeseen drama and market downturns, not to mention having to navigate quite a few debilitating sports injuries after months of training and 2 rounds with unforeseen cancer. And then, of course, there are the vetted employees who turn out to be frauds, and friends and “analytically perfect” love-partners who turn out to be not so committed in return. After a while, you start to question your vision and if you read “the signs” wrong. I mean, how many times do I have to be “ghosted” in order to get the message that some people just aren’t worth it. Or worse, don’t care.
Unfortunately, I can’t help you there, since at this point, I think the only thing we had better get used to foreseeing is nothing foreseeable at all. Covid, Climate Change, Trump and a truly crazy stock market have forced “precedented” out of our lingo in lieu of owning that our lives will be riding an on-going wave of “unprecedenteds” from now on.
And that’s something I CAN help with. Because, surviving all the completely crippling and life-threatening whacks life itself has taken at me has finally taught to face the uncomfortable” as the only way to grow. And go with my gut, thanks to the deep self-exploration, gremlin-gutting and soul-digging I did with IPEC.
So, when I see a cryptic series of signs like this and have absolutely no idea what I’m being told, I finally relish following the Road Less Taken, not because I can see where it’s going, but because I can’t.
And I’ve begun to embrace the guidance of another wonderful poem, Ithaka, and find excitement and inspiration in taking a risk rather than overanalyzing and assessing with fear and doubt the “worst” that could happen. Because, all “the worst” could really be at this point, is just another fork in my path or diversion in my boat’s current towards another adventure, another port, another story to share. Or even a reconnection with an exciting path taken briefly many years ago.
But I also understand that for many of you, who were intellectually trained like me to minimize risk, and follow “the safe” and “tried and true” roads, going with your gut remains incredibly hard, even terrifyingly lonely. And to you I say, go with your gut for the first time, and give me or a friend like me a call, to support you on your journey.
Holly Lynch is a 20+ year communications veteran and life-long social impact advocate and strategist who has helped individuals, educational leaders, and companies tackle the toughest challenges in their worlds.
Having survived countless life setbacks and two rounds with terminal cancer, while seeing the country-wide collapse of the systems and safety nets for the most vulnerable in and outside our communities, she is now shifting her life and career trajectories to focus on coaching those facing down fundamental shifts and transitions as they try to navigate and rebuild their lives, institutions and businesses during these unprecedented times.