I don’t think I have ever had an alcohol induced hangover in my entire life. If I had started drinking alocohol as a teenager that might have been a different story.
But in its absence I have been able to do rapid turn around travel to Melbourne with long meetings in between and I imagine the result is somewhat similar. I got some last night at 10.30pm from 2 solid days of Forge meetings in Melbourne and thankfully I was smart enough to leave this morning completely unscheduled. For some reason the ‘morning after’ always leaves me foggy and weary and bordering on depressed, irrespective of how good the meetings have been.
So this morning I have been chilling, finishing an excellent novel based around relationships in the Aussie suburbs (The Art of the Engine Driver
) and generally catching my breath.
I think some of my weirdness of feeling comes from the fact that yesterday I resigned as the National Director of Forge and now (having resigned from my WA role) I have no official function or role in an organisation that I have been an integral part of. On the one hand that’s no big deal – most people have no official role or function in Forge – but when your life & identity has been so tightly enmeshed with what you do it does leave you a little disoriented. I identify with Wayne Carey when he gave up football, but I’m hopeful I will respond a little differently.
My resignation from both roles comes at a time when I just knew that my ‘work was done’. In WA Forge is up and running, is stable and healthy and my work as the founding leader was over. It was time for someone to come in and give it some new life and direction. I could feel my vision and creative energy waning and was aware that it was time to hand it on.
In the National Director role I have been aware that the challenges ahead of us lie a bit beyond what I am capable of managing well. We need to re-invent ourselves and re-structure if we are to have a significant influence in the future. I am fairly good at strategic planning and the like, but Phil McCredden is a bloody genius at it and yesterday as we were discussing the road ahead I offered to step down so that Phil could give us the leadership we need at this point.
He has accepted so another stage of the Forge journey begins. I believe Phil is the right bloke for the job and I will continue to serve on the national team in whatever capacity I am needed for the next twelve months and we’ll see where it goes from there. Phil is a highly gifted man of great integrity and I am really pleased that he has accepted the challenge of leading the next phase of the the transition. We are good friends and I feel very satisfied to be able to pass the baton to him.
From a personal point of view, the last 2 years have been an interesting exercise in leadership and I have found myself functioning in a way that was somewhat unfamiliar – yet at the same time necessary. In cricket you sometimes see a normally aggressive batsman playing a slow deliberate innings because the teams needs it, and while it is not ‘normal’ it is occasionally ‘necessary’. I guess I feel a bit like that. I have been leading differently to usual because the need of the team was different.
So as I woke this morning I realised that my ‘world’ had contracted significantly. From being connected with people all across Australia and pondering major questions of direction and influence for a national movement, I am now finding my focus is here in Butler and the surrounding suburbs and my questions are also very local – at least for the forseeable future.
I imagine it might take a little getting used to, but then that’s ok too…
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i understand a bit of what you are going through – our identities get tangled with the roles we do – when we shed those roles it is as if we are standing naked and cold while the rest of the world carries on without us – at least that’s the way i felt when i resigned from my ministry and returned to school in order to prepare for a new direction of call – i suspect you will feel strange continuing on the team you led for the next 12 months – you will feel like a ghost after having been at the head of the table – almost like Christ in His post resurected body when he hung out with the desciples before His ascension – you may find the transition a challenge until you become reoriented with your self – i’m excited for what lies ahead for you!
that’s huge news. be kind to yourself day sounds a good idea,
steve
Thanks guys – I believe its a great step for us – just realising that my life is changing in many ways at the moment and I am hanging on for the ride!
“….when we shed those roles it is as if we are standing naked and cold”…the thought of hamo standing naked and cold…too early in the morning to even contemplate such a thing;)
Will be praying for you though in this transitional period.
Terry.
I always thought you looked a bit like Wayne Carey when I squint against the light… 🙂
Funny – Heath Black (almost as good as WC, but not as good looking) said something similar when he was sentenced in Court last week for DUI.
So – when is your Court date due, or are you planning to be all legal and pleasant about this?
I trust that the transition continues well.
You’re a smart guy – you’ll work out what to do!