Complacency Displaced

2019 was a year of big changes for me… in both my personal life, and in my career. Some new doors opened, just as others closed tightly shut. Sometimes I was the one doing the closing, and other times, seismic changes took me by surprise. New and unexpected opportunities presented themselves, and while they offer new possibilities, they also mean that I have some important and consequential decisions to make.

As the year came to an end, I entered into a period of deep reflection… on where I am in my life and on what comes next? Do I let life just happen to me, or do I step up and take the reins? I realize that I’m in the fortunate position of having more options than many. One of the benefits of being a trailing baby boomer, I guess. I don’t have the answers yet, but I do think that I’m getting closer to asking myself the right questions, and ultimately, coming up with a game plan.

As I write this, I’m currently exploring the highlands of Peru. Yesterday, I traveled for 14 hours from Arequipa to Cusco, and I think that the surreal and alien landscape of the Peruvian Andes (and the thinness of the air when you get up to 16,000 feet) gave me a certain clarity and perspective. The result is the poem below.

COMPLACENCY DISPLACED 

Absence makes the heart grow fonder
Or so some say
Just as distance brings clarity
On life, on love
On what really matters
And what doesn’t really matter at all

So many questions come into focus
As trivial considerations slip away
What… when… where?
Who… how… why?

Gently leaning in
The answers start to present themselves
The noise of familiarity drowned out
The comfort of complacency displaced
With the tangibility of new opportunities

Persistence pays off
A picture takes shape
Angles sharpen and colors settle
Fix that image, quickly
It’s the destination that I seek
Now I need to determine the path

© 2020 Robert Ford