Here’s something that a Reinventer must accept as part of the journey. Like it or not, It’s part of the territory. You reach a juncture in your reinvention where there are two road signs, Prudent Lane and Go For It Avenue, and you are called to make a choice.

You may think that the biggest leap in your reniventer’s journey is the one that you take to embark on the journey in the first place. For most of us, it feels like that initially. You let out a big sigh of relief: “Whew, I’ve finally done it.”

The truth is that the calls to vote for the courageous leap of faith over the safe route are just beginning.

For a reinventer, that kind of a choice is actually a simple one, but sometimes you wonder if it will ever get easier. It’s simple because your heart has already made the decision, in favor of Go For It Avenue. And that means that you have already passed some invisible point of no return. Going back is no longer a viable option.

And that’s a very good thing, because otherwise, there are plenty of times when we reinventers would be tempted to go back and take Prudent Lane. And with that, our spirits might go underground again.

I just read an article from one of my favorite publications, More Magazine, about a woman reinventer who has made many Go for It choices in the course of her reinvention journey, and she undoubtedly will be called on to make many more, for the route she has chosen is truly a creative and courageous one. She’s an inspiration for the rest of us.

Deborah Hall was a former surgical assistant with two children and a husband, Bill, who was a surgeon. She and Bill found a fallow lima bean farm in the country on which to build a dream home. At the time, Bill was in remission from bone cancer, and the plan was for Bill to semi-retire while he and Deborah continued to raise their children on this magical land. Tragically, Bill’s bone cancer returned, and six weeks later Deborah was a widow.

Now, standing at that juncture, prudence might dictate that Deborah pack her bags and take her two children, who were ages nine and thirteen at the time, back to the city. Deborah could always find another job as a surgical assistant. Anyone would have understood that decision.

Instead, Deborah voted with her heart, making a choice that most of us would agree was courageous. She decided that she would stay on the land and become a vintner. While she and her husband were clearing the land, they had discovered some grape vines, which they had decided to keep because they were beautiful.

To get the whole background, and all the details about Deborah’s incredible reinvention journey, check out the article. (The article reference is The Accidental Winemaker, by Sharon Boorstin, More Magazine, April ‘07, page 83.)

There are several lessons for us reinventers in this amazing story.

One is that the plan that you have initially made almost always changes, sometimes in drastic and unthinkable ways, not to mention unpredictable ones. This is another vote for staying connected to your inner guidance, because there often are no roadmaps for where you are going, even though you think there are.

Another important lesson is that fear jumps uninvited into the equation at the most unexpected times. In Deborah’s case, you would think that once she made that initial decision, which must have been laden with fear, that the other choices would have been relatively easier, less fearful. She had, after all, exercised her ‘courage muscles’ significantly already.

Not so. She had many challenges, and my guess is that fear appeared as an unwelcome guest at each and every one of them. Weather injured her new vines. The vineyard manager she hired, who was supposed to be the expert, wasn’t up for the task, so she went back to school to learn to be a vintner. Deer and gophers helped themselves to her vines for dinner.

The biggest blow, she says, was when she found out that her Zinfandel vines weren’t really Zinfandels, at which point, “I had to step out of my comfort zone and deal with my fear of failure.” Many of us would have been at that point long before then!

As soon as she dealt with that setback, another challenge was upon her: she had to confront her fear of selling. In every case, she chose Go for It Avenue over Prudent Lane. Going back just wasn’t an option for Deborah.

Our reinventers’ journeys are filled with such choice points. I’m not saying that you will never make the ‘prudent’ choice. But as a reinventer, you won’t make many of them. You are in the game for the adventure, the satisfaction of charting your own unique course, the fulfillment of making a difference. That journey is not usually the safe and ‘proven’ route.

So, what will you draw on, in your inner reserves, to help you make those decisions along the way? Where do you get courage like Deborah’s? What if we assume that we are all born with it, and that your reinvention is the time when you will be called upon to access it? What can you rely on to help you meet these kinds of challenges?

I appreciate Deborah Hall for the inspiration that she is for all of us. And as I celebrate her courage, I look back in my history and acknowledge all of the courageous decisions I have made. Not the same circumstances or the same decisions, but a commitment to triumph over fear none-the-less. I invite you to do the same.

START HERE:

Action: Look back at your history and identify your ‘courage points’. Acknowledge them and celebrate them.

Inquiry: What is courage? What is the commitment that it requires?

Filed under: Being a Reinventer on April 16th, 2007