It’s been just over a month since the end of The Week That Was (aka Ananda’s 50th anniversary/Temple dedication). In a meeting earlier this week we were discussing a potential future event and whether it was going to be “too much”. Then one of the meeting attendees said something along the lines of “if we could do the 50th, we can do anything!”
And it’s true that we stretched way out of our comfort zones and established what we’ve been referring to as “a new normal”, which has higher standards and a much higher set point than what we were accustomed to B.T.F. (Before The Fiftieth). 🙂
So, yeah. If we could achieve the 50th, we can do anything…IF we keep reminding ourselves about what we accomplished. Which is a pretty big if because it’s easy to forget. To slip back into old, comfortable ways of doing, thinking, being.
It reminds me of a long ago life experience that also changed my set point: (literally) walking on fire! I won’t go into all the boring details, but I walked on something like twenty feet worth of hot coals. It was so amazing that I snuck to the back of the line and did it a second time!
Later a part of me tried to downplay it: “maybe the coals weren’t that hot” kind of thoughts. But I knew better…
During a trip to the beach when I was in high school, someone put out a campfire by covering it with sand, and I had the misfortune of stepping on it. To this day I remember thinking that I finally understood the phrase “walking into a nest of hornets” because it hurt so bad.
On the drive home I had to sit with my foot in an ice chest, followed by a visit to the hospital to treat the blistering, which took about a week to heal. And that was the result of one second’s worth of one foot coming into contact with hot coals.
But here’s the point. There have been plenty of times in the ensuing decades when I have felt fearful and powerless and limited. And what I wish is that I had made a concerted effort to remember — every single day — that I broke through my fears and accomplished something seemingly impossible.
And that’s what I hope we’ll do with our 50th anniversary experience: just remember!