Coming Up for Air

I was at O’Hare this week with a TSA agent, trying to check in to my flight. Backpack on my back, carry-on by my side, I was trying to hand the agent my license and place my boarding pass on the scanner the same time.

I only have two hands. So in the middle of it all, I dropped my clutch purse on the ground.

Usually TSA agents are somewhat humorless. But this one said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! What you got in there? Too much money? Is that why it’s so heavy?”

I laughed.

“No, my phone is in there. Too many emails on it,” I replied. “That’s why it’s so heavy.”

“Oh, he said, “so you are one of those. The workday never ends, huh?”

I shook my head, and for a moment, fantasized about what it would be like to punch in and out of a time clock. I sometimes think about having a job where I can leave it on Friday and not think about it again until Monday.

But as I gathered my things, the agent looked me straight in the eyes, and said, “But is it worth it?”

I stopped in my tracks.

“That’s your word for 2022,” he said. “That’s what you need to ponder: Is it worth it?”

I smiled, and pointed at his beautiful face, and I said “Thank you.” I got it, my friend. “Thank you. I will do just that.”

As I walked away, I thought, I love this man!

But then my second thought was: Unfortunately, it is worth it. I love what I do! I love the organizations I work with; the clients I work with. I can’t get enough of any of it.

And there, my friends, is the rub.

Because no matter how much I love it, all of that does not make it sustainable.

A friend of mine told me just this week that the CEO of his organization asked him, “Where’s the white space?”

The CEO was commenting on his staff’s work calendar and whether and how he was making enough space in there. And my friend said gratefully that this was not the first time he had asked. It was more like the fifth.

It was funny my friend mentioned it, because another colleague posted recently about being overly busy and wanting to make change in 2022.

And, I had my first cold in two years this week and spent two days recovering on the couch. I’m sure there is a toll that even the most rewarding, wonderful work takes.

So how I might come up for air? Where is the air, both inside the work that I do, and outside of it?

And for you, who is the person that is trying to stop you in your tracks with a pointed question to reflect on as the year is winding down? That question may come like a piercing arrow flying through the air right at your heart. It may be a question that takes your breath away. But it’s a question you know you need to answer.

As Ram Dass said, “All you can do for another person is be an environment in which if they wanted to come up for air, they could.”

Who is your TSA agent helping you come up for air? Go give them a hug.