New Turns, New Roads

Benjamin Button said that life is defined by those moments of opportunity, and the question is how someone reacts to them. Do you take this path, or another? Or stay on the same path? Sometimes the paths you take create waves in the lives of others. My wife needed another path, and it sent my own life into a tailspin, and forever changed the tenor, texture and shape of our son's. How his will develop in the long run is another question. 

My professional life the last three years, having left Hollywood for the fast-paced, fast-rising world of the Internet has been a study in movement. Each year has brought on new challenges, and new opportunities. After a great 2008 (professionally, at least), my initiative was eliminated due to corporate priorities and restructuring, that left me driftless and confused. 

I need a new challenge, I need fresh ideas and that learning curve that's going to take me to the next level. At the same time, I'm reticent to change, and am generally fearful of strong shifts in my life. That's part of why I didn't leave the company when I had a chance a year ago (which turned out to be a remarkably smart move, given the economy and other factors). 

Yesterday I was offered a job on another team within our company. Flattering to be thought of. Great new skills to be learned, central to the company's mission, and developing talents that must be considered core to the overall structure of Internet content sites. Pretty key. Yet, again, it's change. The comfortable stability of my team, of my knowledge base, the reassurance of strong management. Those will be lost in the short term, at least, in favor of the unknown.

The unknown frequently scares me, but I need to learn to embrace it with more open, excited arms.