Blame it on the weather but my mood was “strange” all day yesterday. Being in Athens in early October, I was mentally prepped to expect sunny, warm Indian summer days, and light, lots of natural, reddish, shining and glowing light to accompany the thrill of being back “home.”
Instead, yesterday, I caught myself swimming in the blues – no, not the aqua marine Aegean waters but the depressive, melancholic blues brought on by the uncertainty of transition and change. Almost everyone I know is of the esteemed opinion that I committed a major sin by taking the decision to leave Silicon Valley and come back to Greece. While fleeting attacks of my resident-terrorist lizard brain instantaneously feel paralyzing, my stubbornness and determination are much stronger than the weak tension of my uncertainty.
A collective national depression seems to be taking its toll on the Greek psyche – and somehow yesterday I discovered I was being sucked in. But then, I came to my senses. Is it easier to fail just a bit? Safer to fit in rather than stand out? Wiser to abide by the “better safe than sorry” idea?
Depending on the stakes – sometimes the answer to all of the above is a resounding yes and we have all used caution navigating our very own Scylla and Charybdis.
However, leaps of progress are rarely made from the safety of one’s perch. Disruption is crucial to fuel the creative anxiety and tension necessary to create the novel, the avant-garde, the opposite, the shift, the significant and distinguishable difference.
So refusing to succumb to the malaise of D.D.D. (Disruption Deficit Disorder as defined in the Harvard Business Review by Umair Haque) I want to try – even if times are hard, in spite of the odds, against the tide.
After all, sometimes, the lesson is worth so much more if you dare to be stupid.
I walked into my apartment in Athens four days ago after a year’s absence.
I paddle – no, not as a sport. For a living actually. I am on the water all the time; I use the oars; I defy the storms and I keep on rowing though life. Easy, moderate, hard, damn difficult choices – and somehow I tend to navigate towards the hard decisions. I don’t hesitate – I just get on my mental boat and off I go like Ulysses.
What interests me is helping sharp, intelligently curious people overcome barriers that may be keeping them from achieving more. Passion and boldness can make the art and science of leading easier to navigate. So, have fire; feel with your brain; don't be afraid.
