Balancing the Push and the Pull
A couple of years ago when I was in the throes of my leadership program, I was introduced to the juxtaposition in life of “homeostasis” and “emergence.” In a nutshell, these are opposing forces that are in constant play in the game of life. Homeostasis is about staying the same, staying right where you are, hanging out in what you know. Emergence, on the other hand, is about being called into a new way of being, a new course of action, something as yet unknown. There’s a way in which the human experience demands both.
I notice this in my business all the time. There are things that I do well, that I like doing, that I’m comfortable with — and I generally want to keep doing these things and hanging out in these spaces. I know them, I’m familiar with them — why change? And yet, I cannot deny that there is always a part of me that feels called to something else, something different, something that will stretch me. Could be a new course to take, a new program to offer, a new product to develop. No matter what it is, it simultaneously excites me and scares the pants off me. And so I feel this constant push towards the new, even while the old wants to pull me back. It’s like my life is playing a cosmic game of tug of war, only I’m the rope.
What I’m learning — and the learning started when I was first introduced to the concept two years ago — is that both of these conditions are necessary. I actually need to heed the call of both. I need to allow myself to be pushed forward (or pulled forward as the case might be) by the desire of emergence, the craving for something new AND I need to allow the pull-back of homeostasis to keep me from moving ahead too rapidly. I need to balance the moving forward with the staying put. The newness can definitely keep me from stagnating, which is a good thing; and the stuff that I know can keep me from getting overwhelmed by all there is that I haven’t experienced or known before.
Bottom-line: feeling simultaneously pushed and pulled isn’t a bad thing. Being aware of both, allowing a space for both, allows you to move forward and stretch with a modicum of balance, slowly releasing what you know and are comfortable with, even as you step into whatever’s next for you. It’s a good way to be.
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