A Mantra to Guide You as You Move Through Change
When I think about embracing change, I think of my neighbor Holly. Her story is a reminder that even the most unexpected endings can open doors we never imagined.
After 30 years as a record‑breaking sales professional, Holly lost her job when her company was acquired. She didn’t just lose a paycheck — she lost the future she thought she was building. Like many of us, she cycled through anger, fear, and self‑blame. Big change does that. It shakes your identity and clouds your vision.
But getting stuck in grief keeps you from seeing the opportunities that loss can create. Holly chose to focus on what might come next. She set up a small booth at the county fair to test selling her fried green tomatoes. She sold out almost every night. That tiny step revealed something important: people loved her product.
So she took a leap. She used her severance to buy a food truck and launched a business selling fried green tomatoes and other Southern favorites. When customers began asking for her batter and secret sauce, she tested selling those too — another step. In her second year, she launched a retail line.
Then came the leap of all leaps: Shark Tank auditions in Nashville. She showed up, excelled, appeared on the show, and secured a deal with Barbara Corcoran. A second truck followed. Then franchising. Today, 14 years later, Holly has a national product line, franchise opportunities, and two thriving food trucks.
Most of us don’t feel that kind of clarity after a major change. Instead, we feel like we’re standing in thick fog — unable to see what’s ahead or even who we are now. That fog can appear after job loss, retirement, an empty nest, or even after achieving a long‑held goal. A chapter ends, and suddenly your identity shifts. You wonder: What now? Who am I becoming?
After years of guiding clients through transitions — and walking through many of my own — I’ve learned that you have two choices in the fog: stepping or leaping. Both require movement. Both lead you forward.
Stepping
Stepping is choosing the next small, best step — not the whole plan, not the whole future. Just one step. Then reassess and take another.
Movement creates energy. Energy creates momentum. And momentum slowly clears the fog.
You don’t need a five‑year plan. You don’t need to know your destination. You simply keep moving, learning, adjusting, and asking, “What’s the next right step?” Even missteps teach you something that helps you move forward.
If you sit still and wait for clarity, you may stay stuck far longer than you need to. But if you keep stepping, one day the fog lifts — and you realize you’ve walked yourself into a new beginning.
Leaping
Leaping is different. Leaping is what you do when clarity arrives — when you feel that spark of excitement about a future you can almost see.
When that moment comes, don’t talk yourself out of it. Don’t list all the reasons you can’t. Leap. Trust that the net will appear. Trust that you will have what you need when you need it.
Stepping and Leaping Together
Most new beginnings require both. Holly stepped when she tested her tomatoes at the fair. She leaped when she bought the food truck. She stepped when she tried selling her batter. She leaped when she created a national product line and walked onto the Shark Tank stage.
She embraced change — and created a life she never could have planned.
And so can you.
Trust that change is not here to take something from you. It’s here to lead you somewhere new. What new beginning might be waiting for you if you take one small step today?
Embrace change and look forward to new beginnings.
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