Have you noticed how "joined-up" has become the new 'must-have'? We're encouraged to do 'joined-up thinking' and provide 'joined-up services'. We buy integrated ovens and integrated systems. If someone said that you were 'together' as a person, you’d probably take it as a compliment. And yet, our lives are more disjointed than they've ever been.
The days when men and women followed pretty much the same paths as their parents did have long gone. And working for the same company, in the same location, for 50 years (as my father did) or even staying in the same profession, is no longer expected.
There are many positive aspects to this - but more opportunity has also brought more confusion. Not only is "the map not the territory", the earth itself is shifting beneath our feet.
This disconnection goes on at the personal level - even the term ‘work-life balance’ tends to suggest that ‘work’ is not part of ‘life’ as if living is something you do when you’re not at work.
So I’ve been thinking – how do we "join up the dots" between the disparate parts of our lives? What about ‘joined-up living’?
Part of it has got to be about a sense of continuity - of a connection between who you were, who you are now and who you're going to be...
There's a car advert on TV at the moment with the tagline: "What did you want to be when you grew up?" The implication is that having this car will fulfil your childhood dreams - but of course it can't. Having more things will never fulfil that sense of longing. The answer lies inside, not outside, down in the roots of who you are.
Renewal is a potent idea.
Who did you want to be? What were you passionate about and where is that passion now?
By Helen Ross-Hamilton
helen@theresultsage
www.theresultsagenc
© Helen Ross-Hamilton, All rights reserved
