More Than Just a Word

In the beginning of 2019, my manager instructed our team to pick a “word.” It would serve as an intention, a personal guide for each of us. Mine was “transformation.” With the selection of that word, I realized I was contemplating a change without knowing what I wanted.

There was so much I loved about leading the volunteer department at Hospice of the Chesapeake (HOC). While it was not necessarily the next logical step from my previous role at a local financial services firm, I found that it was exactly where I was meant to be at the time. I gave a lot and I received much more. I felt the same as the many volunteers do when they say, “it was a gift for me.” Yet – there was something tugging at me. And after much contemplation, there was still no epiphany in the way I had hoped. However, what I came to realize is that I didn’t need to have the answer at that time. All I needed to know was that I was ready for transformation.

What happened within the next several months paradoxically made no sense and all the sense. It started with a meeting that I had in HOC’s Wellness Space – a space that was created as a gift for the hospice staff and volunteers, and turned into much more than a project as a graduate from Leadership Anne Arundel. I sat in the space, along with a few of the healing arts practitioners, and we imagined big dreams. We spoke of wellness in a variety of settings — a wellness that soothes the soul and that heals beyond what seems attainable.

Jokingly I offered, maybe I will move on to lead something else, but Wellness House is already taken. LOL. Immediately after this discussion, I returned to my office and checked my email, and a new email popped up with a question: “Do you know anyone who is interested? – Executive Director, Wellness House.” As many know, synchronicity sometimes works in unexpected ways.

While I have been the Executive Director at Wellness House for less than a year, it has been over a year since I declared my word to be transformation. And it continues. The significant change that is implied by the word is the very thing our team is working through here and now. Through my work, I have transitioned through several major career shifts, and I am at Wellness House now to lead through these uncertain times. I know it is exactly where I am meant to be.

I encourage you to reflect on a personal intention and with it the potential to grow in a positive way throughout this spring and the remainder of the year. Here are some resources to help you get started:

• The Daily Positive with Transformation Life Coach, Bernadette Logue
• Jon Gordon’s Positive University
• Brene Brown’s Iconic ‘The Power of Vulnerability’ TED Talk