As I write this year’s Thanksgiving message, I must confess that life feels like a mixed bag. Each day seems to serve up exciting things, mundane day-to-day activities, and heartbreaking moments, too. In mid-November, we lost one of our clients and shining-star Transformational Leadership Program™ graduates, Dominic Rovano, CPA, after a courageous battle with cancer. He was only 45 and his loss leaves a mammoth hole in the lives of his beloved wife, their two children, his parents, sister, friends, clients, fellow partners, teammates, and with us, too. You can read more about his amazing leadership, his winning smile, contagious laugh, and his warmth that touched everyone here.
Grief can be a heavy and invisible cloak to wear, and those of us who have experienced profound loss know that it will ease with time, but it can produce feelings of hopelessness and loneliness along the journey.
Some of us feel heavy already, without added loss. Right now, our economy is spongy, our political arena is divisive, and our nation and its populace aren’t living up to its full potential. Within the CPA profession, we’re facing a number of battles, including the move to declassify us as a profession, rampant consolidation, and traditional capitalistic “shareholder-first” values emerging, bringing private equity investors with short-term intentions into the ownership mix.
If we’re not careful, these challenges could bring us down. But, as the old adage says, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” At ConvergenceCoaching®, we have long shared our motto of digging deep each day with an #unstoppable mindset, committed to lead with authentic faith, hope, and love, and to never stop trying to solve problems and make a difference in the world. So, instead of a more traditional focus on gratitude in this post, I’m going to share how I’m striving to demonstrate toughness and get going in the face of these obstacles. I hope these ideas help you, and I also hope they cause you to share YOUR coping mechanisms with me, too.
In the face of darkness, I’m:
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- Praying. Regardless of your faith, turning to your higher power for strength and reinforcement will always help. My parents raised me as an Episcopal Christian – fortunately an inclusive faith that truly feeds my spirit. In the face of difficult things, my mother would quote the Bible, and two of her favorites were from Matthew, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God…” and Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
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- Exercising. Working out is one of my most important stress management techniques, and I’m trying to sweat at least 5 times a week. Soon with the ConvergenceCoaching Holiday Exercise Streak, I’ll be doing so 7 days a week through New Year’s (at least). When I exercise, I release sadness, disappointment, upset, and anger, and gain perspective on what’s possible. It truly is a miracle mindset shifter.
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- Taking action. I’m writing this blog to share Dominic’s story with permission from his wife, in the hope that doing so contributes to his family’s well-being. I’m protesting governmental policies that I perceive as going against our humanity as a nation. I’m using an app, 5Calls, to make calls to my legislators, most recently on the de-professionalizing of nursing and the threat to de-professionalize the CPA profession. I’m actively spreading the message that firms can remain independent and transition to the next generation. We’re working hard to help firms committed to do so and there are so many amazing leaders making it happen.
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- Sharing my feelings. I’m not hiding my heartbreak from the loss of Dominic or other family and friends who have left the earth this year, or by the slow decline of my father and best friend, Jack, or by the quiet acceptance of greed, selfishness, and discriminatory behavior that I see becoming bolder and more visible on our nation’s stage and even in the workplace each day. I AM UPSET about these things. I acknowledge the feelings and then circle back to the top of these strategies and start again in prayer, exercise, and action, to generate faith, hope, perspective, and change.
Humanity, our nation, our profession, our families have all seen dark times before. And we’ve always emerged better, stronger, and smarter.
This Thanksgiving, I pray that you take away something useful from this message. I also pray that faith, hope, love, and light outshine the darkness in our hearts, minds, families, communities, profession, nation, and our world.
Gratefully,
Jen
