Walking a mile in her shoes

One of the odder aspects of my recent experiences has been that not only have I been trying to pick up the ‘load’ of Carys’s role/work in the home and family but because of my circumstances, having to take an enforced ‘sabbatical’, I have found myself experiencing aspects of her life for myself.  I’m at home most of the time, cooking, cleaning and being ‘mum’.  Today I heard myself saying to my son things that I often heard her say to me.  She would tell me that she found herself wondering what her role was as the kids begun to fly the nest, to feel that being ‘mum’ was not enough, the frustration of constant cleaning etc.  The bizarre thing was that when I was the other side of this divide, I was really clear about the value of what she brought to the table; however, living the role, I find it harder to feel that. 

We often talk about karma but it is rare that we get a chance to to live both sides of a situation like this.  Who knows what lesson I am meant to be learning but like most lessons, this one is no fun.  As a rather empathetic person, I often find if I listen to two different peoples’ take on a situation I can understand how they both feel the way they do and see it from both perspectives, but living it is rather different…

Each ending carries with it the seed of a new beginning but that doesn’t make them any less painful.  Change experts and business leaders  tend to focus so much on the business benefits that they forget this simple truth, that first something old and familiar needs to to be torn down before the rebuilding can commence and the pain is very real…

“As she has planted, so does she harvest; such is the field of karma.”  Sri Guru Granth Sahib

Tags: empathy, karma

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 15th, 2010 at 19:01 and is filed under Business Change, Hints, Tips & Techniques, Leadership, Personal Blog, Personal Change. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.