I’m doing some work from a cafe this morning.
It’s my favourite cafe in Bangor, Northern Ireland called The Guillemot.
The staff are always welcoming, always in good form and always bring me my coffee before I order it.
Paolo Nutini has just been singing “New Shoes.”
The energy and mood in the room is high.
Despite this, I’ve just read an article from Mathew Syed talking about the waking up we need to do or our world as we know it will end.
It’s not a new theme to me.
I’ve been looking into this topic for probably the last 3 / 4 years.
It’s the reason I got involved in leadership development – to influence and develop those in the positions of power who can affect change in a different direction.
The temporary decisions we and others make for “today us” is directly confrontational and at odds with any future self or generations that come after us.
Never before have our human capabilities been bumping against the planet’s boundaries.
The relentless chase for more stuff, growth, chasing next etc. being part of the tangled hairball we need to start untangling and unravelling.
This will not be easy work.
The reaction to being presented with these things is overwhelm and distraction among other emotions.
This is normal.
Breathe.
Take another.
I’ve been making sense of this for years and so I move through those emotions quite quickly (most days!) towards hope and possibility but it’s difficult.
Go gentle, but move forwards.
Individually we can go so far, together we can go further.
Today, that’s more true than ever before.
To go together, there must be some giving up we each collectively do for the greater good.
Every new beginning involves a painful ending to what was.
We must honour what was because it served a purpose, but we have a new horizon to aim for.
I wonder are the vanilla lattes being ordered part of the giving up we need to do if we proceed on our current path.
It’s time.
Onwards.
