January 5th – How Many Hats?
“Whatever you are, be a good one.” – Abraham Lincoln
Transition – the process of change from one form, state, style or place to another.
Have you ever thought about the amount of transitions or hat changes you make in any given day? You can go from being ME to parent to friend to lover to teacher to communicator to worker to boss to consumer to talker to patient to friend to workout buddy to on and on. Being able to transition and change hats is indeed an acquired skill. All too often we tend to get caught up or stuck in particular roles to the point it’s frustrating. If you are stuck in the worker role, you spend too much time at the office, which typically means tension at home as you are away from the family. If you are stuck the parent role, you get frustrated as you begin to feel you are losing your identity and have no ME time.
I transition between numerous hats each day. I’m a technology contractor, I’m a writer, I’m a friend, I’m a counselor, I’m a listener, I’m a walker, I’m a reader, and then I’m ME. Personally, I consider the ME hat to be the most important and valuable hat I own. Before I can be anything to anyone else or to the world, my ME hat has to fit. Knowing from experience (and yes I still do it sometimes), it is easy for me to stay in a counselor/listener/friend role sometimes as it keeps me from thinking about my ME Hat if something is off balance in my world. There are times I feel I have lost touch with ME. I get sad, stressed, frustrated or sore, and then I Jamie’s voice in my head saying: “you can’t take ownership of other people’s issues.” Luckily, I now know how to sense these changes or signals that I could be staying too long in one role and need to transition. That’s why I walk, sometimes get up from my desk and just go stand outside and listen to the wind, get regular massages, do Body Talk Energy Medicine Therapy, write, and communicate. Remember the old commercial: “Calgon, take me away”?
We all wear various hats, but to be able to wear and change hats easily, your ME hat needs to be your favorite and most comfortable hat in the collection.
“Whatever you are, be a good one.” – Abraham Lincoln
Transition – the process of change from one form, state, style or place to another.
Have you ever thought about the amount of transitions or hat changes you make in any given day? You can go from being ME to parent to friend to lover to teacher to communicator to worker to boss to consumer to talker to patient to friend to workout buddy to on and on. Being able to transition and change hats is indeed an acquired skill. All too often we tend to get caught up or stuck in particular roles to the point it’s frustrating. If you are stuck in the worker role, you spend too much time at the office, which typically means tension at home as you are away from the family. If you are stuck the parent role, you get frustrated as you begin to feel you are losing your identity and have no ME time.
I transition between numerous hats each day. I’m a technology contractor, I’m a writer, I’m a friend, I’m a counselor, I’m a listener, I’m a walker, I’m a reader, and then I’m ME. Personally, I consider the ME hat to be the most important and valuable hat I own. Before I can be anything to anyone else or to the world, my ME hat has to fit. Knowing from experience (and yes I still do it sometimes), it is easy for me to stay in a counselor/listener/friend role sometimes as it keeps me from thinking about my ME Hat if something is off balance in my world. There are times I feel I have lost touch with ME. I get sad, stressed, frustrated or sore, and then I Jamie’s voice in my head saying: “you can’t take ownership of other people’s issues.” Luckily, I now know how to sense these changes or signals that I could be staying too long in one role and need to transition. That’s why I walk, sometimes get up from my desk and just go stand outside and listen to the wind, get regular massages, do Body Talk Energy Medicine Therapy, write, and communicate. Remember the old commercial: “Calgon, take me away”?
We all wear various hats, but to be able to wear and change hats easily, your ME hat needs to be your favorite and most comfortable hat in the collection.
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