Hurricanes and Change

Thursday Thoughts: Hurricanes and Change

If you haven’t realized yet, I am a writer.  For meager evidence, check out the excerpts to your right. During the day I work in the financial industry, a place I have worked for most of my career.  I have also been a teacher and owned a gourmet shop. I am married and have two almost grown children. Most of this while living in New Jersey. Hey watch it, no Jersey jokes.  What does any of this have to do with hurricanes?

Hurricanes are forces of nature and are highly unpredictable.  Here on the East coast of the United States we are watching the progress of Hurricane Irene. This after much of the Northeast felt the effects of the strongest earthquake in 67 years. I know southern California readers, it would be a yawner for you, but what would you do if three feet of snow fell on LA? The path a hurricane takes can mean all the difference between a disaster, a hard rain of a shower. When you are in the path of a hurricane, you need to prepare and be ready to adapt.  Windows need to be boarded up; evacuation may be necessary. If evacuation is advised, go! Not following great advice from experts under any circumstances is an invitation to disaster.

There are lessons to be learned from the forces of nature.  Life is about change, sometimes it is gentle, like a soft spring rain and sometimes it is a hurricane. Either way, it is about preparation and adaptation.

My change is everywhere. If you’ve read my last two posts, my daughter is moving to New York City, a place I lived when I was the same age.  This is gentle change, by and large, as long as we ignore the moments of twenty-something angst.

I work in the banking industry. I won’t say for whom because. while I want blogger followers, I am not the complaint department.  Banking has undergone drastic change in the last few years and continues to change.

I am also a writer. It is no understatement to say that the publishing and bookselling industry is in flux.  Change is happening so fast that it is hard to discern clear trends and directions.  I know that there are many people who are certain of the future and are more than happy to tell you their position ---sometimes endlessly. I am not as certain.  I suspect, and I am ready to admit that I could be wrong, that the final industry model will be a hybrid.  Maybe it is the biology major with a fascination of evolutionary biology and anthropology speaking. Nature abhors vacuums and extremes. 

But what does one do in a period of change and uncertainty---prepare, adapt and persist.  My Irish grandmother always said “You do what you have to do.”  Read, talk to others, share ideas, find a support network (for writers I recommend the folks at #pubwrite on twitter or the PubWrite group page on facebook) but most of all plan a course of action and do not be afraid to alter your course if facts and circumstances change. Do not be caught by surprise whether it is a gentle spring rain or a hurricane. Take charge of change and take charge of your future.