Four Hours of Fear
When I woke up Saturday morning, something didn’t feel quite right.
A couple steps in I felt something in my left calf. Nothing too alarming, though, due to the fact that I had a partial rupture a decade ago that raises its ugly head once in a while.
Then I could feel it starting to spread.
When I (attempted) to get up from reading, I could barely walk.
My left leg did not want to cooperate. It was weak from the hip down. Every step had to be deliberate.
Mentally, I had to go through check points on every step: foot below hip; knee aligned; pressure test for stability; step.
I thought I could just walk it off. But when it persisted after my very shaky shower, I started to get worried.
I stretched. I flexed. I tested. I sat in weird positions. Nothing seemed to work.
My mind started racing.
What gives? Is this part of aging? Do you just wake up one day and part of your body decides to take a raincheck?
Then it started to spiral.
What if this doesn’t improve? Are my Spartan Race / Basketball Officiating / Yosemite Hiking / Motorcycle Riding / Adventure days over?
Will this progress? Is a cane, or wheelchair, in my near future?
There are too many things to do, places to go, and people to see for that!
I. Am. Not. Ready!!
Ouch. That one hurt.
A sense of learning and awareness started to overtake my natural fears.
If any of that were to come true, right now, how would I handle it?
Thankfully, my wife is a nurse, and she was able to rule out any of the nasty stuff rather quickly (blood clot, stroke, etc.), but still…
About four hours after it started, as I was sitting on the couch in a ‘normal’ position with my feet on the floor, I felt a bit of a flush in my lower leg.
Something just happened.
Raising from a seated position with no upper body assistance, it was clear that all was well.
As if it were all a dream, I felt like I could go outside and run again. In fact, I ran up the stairs – just because I could.
My being overwhelmed with gratitude an that moment is an understatement. That is my default MO anyway, so add a significant multiplier to any level of appreciation you might imagine!
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Thanks for bearing with my (very true) story for a minute. Here is the business leader application.
I’ve got stuff to do! I’ve got places to go! I’ve got people to see! And I’ve got succession planning to execute!
How about you?
Even if we fully appreciate the VUCA world we live in, it is perfectly normal to get lulled to sleep by a felt sense of predictability in our daily lives.
But…what if you woke up tomorrow and things, to a significant degree, were not the same?
Pick your calamity.
Be it personal, relational, professional, organizational, societal, political, physical, spiritual, emotional, mental…
Are you ready?
Are your people ready?
Is your family ready?
Life and its associated tragedies come at us fast.
And as leaders, particularly those of the ‘purpose driven’ persuasion, we are uniquely equipped to prepare ourselves, our families, our organizations, and more for the unpredictable adventure ahead.
May God grant you and me the wisdom, the resources, the vision, and the discipline necessary to make a difference in this arena.
As always, this is not a complete thought, but hopefully it is something to get us started down this road.
A Monday Morning Stretch, if you will.
Blessings to you, my friends!
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This Week’s Resource Recommendation:
“Perpetuate: Selling Your Business Without Selling Out”
- Brandt Brereton
Speaking of being prepared… ‘Perpetuate’ is a brand new resource (January 2025) that our National team at Convene distributed to Chairs throughout the land, and I am honored to be able to introduce it to you.
From the back cover: What if you could sell your business while preserving its mission and independence while also getting paid just as much as an outside buyer would pay?
This book explores the "dirty little secrets" of private equity transactions through the fictional stories of two purpose-driven business owners. It offers a better way forward. Bill Snyder, committed to environmental sustainability, and Dan Evans, dedicated to his Christian faith, faced a choice between selling to private equity or an employee trust. Their decision impacts not only their companies but their legacies.
Drawing on 39 years of corporate finance experience, this narrative reveals the true costs – and alternatives – of business sales.
MMS 25-12
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Blessings to you, my friend!
