KICKING AND SCREAMING

It's that time again! We get to play musical chairs! I'm just getting used to being in my courtroom. I've just developed a deep appreciation for the way things are set up in there. I know where everything is in my office. I've just figured out those jokes that the bailiff tells, and, wham, it's all going to change.

At this time of the year something wild happens at our courthouse. Judges are coming back from Timbuktu, satellite courts, or whatever, and others are assigned out. With them comes and goes their entire staff, or not. Some are left behind, thrown into the sea of unknown assignments. It just all feels so inconvenient, so hard, so scary.

Change. Why does everything have to change? Why can't things just stay the way they were? It's as if work wasn't already tough enough. Maybe there's another question to consider. How can I become more flexible and just go with the flow?

Isn't my work life a metaphor for life in general? Am I forgetting that I really have a choice in the matter. I can go kicking and screaming or I can just relax and see what's behind the spooky door of shift and change. I can hold my head up and just walk through, taking only one step at a time, and not just hope. I can actually be confident that there is something good for me that awaits, something that I would not have experienced had I not said yes to the whole transition.

In this whole transition, I can still remember what remains stable: My attitude still determines my day. The way I show up at work still contributes to and creates my work environment. And, of course, I still remain grateful that I am employed can enjoy the benefits of having a job when the unemployed line is growing longer every day. What remains true is that I'm still in control of my response to life, my response to change. Instead of harboring some inner resistance and holding my breath, this time I think I'll just relax and allow it to happen.