During the course of our lives, we have ups and downs, twists and turns and moments of sheer terror and excitement — fairly similar to that of a roller coaster, only spread out over years, not minutes. The best thing to do is hold on tight and enjoy this ride we call life. We spend our entire lives planning, organizing, and preparing for the future, both in our personal and professional lives. We map out a carefully laid out plan of things that we want to do and accomplish. Then of course there is the day-to-day operation of business and life.
Like many, I live by what my calendar tells me to do. It is an ongoing joke, both at work and with my family. “Are you going to be here on this day?” “Let me check the calendar.” That calendar runs my life. There have been a couple of times where I over extended myself because I forgot to look at my calendar. Oops!
Things constantly pop up, and you have to determine if it can fit into your schedule, or if it is something that cannot be moved. Then there are the times when things come up that change your schedule and life.
During InfoComm, I had one such unavoidable moment. During the first day of InfoComm, a family emergency came up back on the East Coast. If you know me and our business it can seem almost impossible to just drop things and head home. But some family emergencies require that you do just that.
One of my favorite phrases that I have heard about describing our industry is that we are not curing cancer here, but making people look good on stage. It is not to say that our jobs are not important. But when your family needs you, they must always come first.
When the news came, it was heart-wrenching, and all I could think about was getting home. The thought of having to drop everything I had so carefully scheduled for work was there as well. Covering trade shows is a big part of our coverage at PLSN, and I had an intricately scheduled agenda of meetings and events that I had been planning for months.
My office was so supportive and understanding of the situation. I was worried about our coverage and all of the things I had planned. “Send us your schedule, and we’ll take care of it. Now get home.” With a group of friends and co-workers like that, it made it easier for me to worry about getting home and not my job. It is this network of people that I can rely on when I need them. Everyone understood the situation and bent over backwards to help not just me, but my family. It made the situation we were in a little easier, in the respect that my job was covered and that I could be with my family.
What can you take away from this story? Even while you move forward in your life, following your own intricate agenda of all the things you are hoping to accomplish in your career and life, know that somewhere down the line, a wrench will get thrown in and all of your careful planning will go into the blender. If you’re lucky, however, the people you work with and those close friends you can rely on will help pick up the slack and get you through the unexpected.
In the end, life goes on, with or without you. After the setbacks and unexpected leave, playing catch-up is the worst. Again, those close to me made it easy, and I thank each and every one of them for the help, love, and support they gave me in my time of need.
