November 9, 2022 – JOLT – Part V: The Call of Becoming

PART V: Been out of touch, but I was answering the call of Becoming

Did you miss my last “I’M BAAAAACK!” JOLT Notes from the last few weeks? See PART I through Part IV HERE and, if they speak to you, follow them up with the fifth installment below. Thanks for your interest in “Becoming”.

Becoming: A Team Sport

Do you play any sports? Did you play any when growing up?

If not sports, were you in the high school band (like me)? Or was it a Dungeons & Dragons group?

In any of these, either years ago or now, we participate with others such that we can become a better player in some modality, and we do so in a group environment made up of others also seeking to uplevel their ability to play.

That’s just the way it goes. We can practice, practice, practice on our own and, for sure, grow in our skills (like the young Michael Jordon shooting baskets all night). But “Becoming” takes place in the presence and with the engagement of others.

We Don’t Become Alone

Through the multi-year and multi-phase process of bringing out The Back Forty: 7 Essential Embraces to Launch Life’s Radical Second Half, though I didn’t notice it at the time, I became very comfortable tucked safely away in my cave of deep thought and ponderance.

Though I don’t claim any credit for the ideas presented – as I’ve said, the book was written by me and for me but not from my own, well-worn “figuring out” identity: the book simply downloaded through me– I will say that it set for me a high bar for creating the second half of my life as the best half.

Maybe some writers write from all that they already know and demonstrate in their lives. I, on the other hand, feel that a Higher aspect of my Self had a hand in the formation and ideation that resulted in the final form of The Back Forty.

After all the mechanics of finalizing the message, wrapping it in a cover and publishing it out into the world, I experienced a case of post-publication hibernation. I think it was a combination of the depth of vulnerability and authenticity demanded of the book but also, now on the backend, the challenge to actually walk the talk of The Back Forty in my own life. . .which seems to be a dauntingly high bar.

Fortunately, I remembered what was so fortuitously foretold near the end of the book, p. 425, under the heading “Community”: “An essential of true Back Forty community is accountability. Unless you’re supported to get outside of your Front Forty comfort zones and take bold steps while engaging in cutting-edge, second half [of life] thinking, you’ll fall prey to your old Front Forty ways and your entrenched Incredible Shrinking World.”

For those who have yet to grab the book, what it’s basically saying is that no matter how much you want to Become more than you currently are, you can’t and won’t do it alone.

That means that those “one day I will. . .” projects and goals, those “when I get around to it” good intentions and plans, those “someday I’ll. . .” hopes and dreams just can’t and won’t happen on our own. Becoming is a team sport!

Thankfully, with the support of friends and fellows along the path of Becoming in their own ways, I began stepping outside of the cozy comfort of my publication cave so as to get on the Becoming Team playground again.

If you’ll remember from Part II, the second installment of this series from October 19 (which you can see here): “Big dreams come into fruition by living into the gaps that we actively create for ourselves between who and where we are right now and who and where we’ve declared that we want to Be. Closing that gap by Becoming is what allows us to reach those goals.”

I’ll pause once more in this series of (hopefully) digestible installments and leave you with a question:

If 2023 was your year to Become the person necessary to fulfill on those projects and goals, good intentions and plans, hopes and dreams that you’ve put off until “someday,” where would you find a community of others to support and enable you to Become that while they Become that for themselves?

Ponder that and stay tuned for Part VI next week: “Shall We Truly Play Again?”

And, in the meantime, if you’re the type that likes to be first to know, first in line, and first to stick their toe in the water, I invite you to spend 25min with me personally this week to explore what your 2023 Big Game would look like. Schedule a time HERE.

Stay tuned and thanks for listening.