It’s important to slow down and understand priorities. By Adam Cook, CFE SOMETIMES THE BEAR BITES... ARENAS:
A few more years ago than I care to admit, I wrote a piece for this col- umn titled, “If You Stumble, Make it Part of the Dance.” The article focused on how we manage the challenges and mistakes that come our all about taking risks, sometimes without knowing how things are go- ing to turn out. Since then, I’ve been confronted by a new proposition - As a young incoming college freshman, I sat listening to the Dean
us all, “Always remember, sometimes you bite the bear. Sometimes the bear bites you.” Being college freshmen, and thinking ourselves in- this piece of advice and went on our merry way. Many of us went through our college careers without feeling the bear’s teeth, our fortune continuing into adulthood. A great family, good friends, careers, and industries that we love, all made it seem like the bear’s bite could be eluded forever. As is so often the case, fate had other ideas, and not too long ago, the bear bit me. The details of the situation aren’t say that it wasn’t a little nibble, it was a large life changing bite. This was the type of bite that sets you reeling and struggling through the seven stages of grief. As I dealt with these stages, I was forced to think about my life in new ways and to challenge myself with new ideas that I may never have considered without that bite. Shock/denial, guilt, and anger/bargaining all seemed to merge into one big lump that sat in the pit of my stomach for weeks afterward. It was a cloud that I carried with me almost constantly. It was while new truths. “It’s OK to need support and help from people.” This may seem like common sense for some, but this had never been a concept I embraced for myself. As a manager, I was there to support my team. As an employee, I was there to be the one my boss could lean on. As a father and a husband, I was there to provide for my family and be their anchor, but this self-imposed independence could no longer be the case.
with at Venue Management School. Since this issue of FM Magazine is highlighting the 30th anniversary of the school, I strongly encour- age each of you to catch that Wheeling Feeling and attend. You won’t regret it.) - tion, and acceptance, I began taking many long thoughtful walks. Up until this point, my brain and body had been in survival mode. Think- ing constantly about the next steps and how to adapt and rebuild, how walks that another of those new ideas reared its head. “What’s so great moment, I was able to start thinking in-depth and thoughtfully about my life, including where things had been and where they were headed. It was in these moments that I came to un- derstand what was really important to me, and I discovered some hard truths about pieces of myself that I wasn’t necessarily happy with and wanted to improve.
As I discovered these new truths,
“A great family, good friends, careers and industries that we love, all made it seem like the bear’s bite could be eluded forever. But... fate had other ideas, and not too long ago, the bear bit me.”
I struggled with understanding how large portion of his identity, this con- Fortunately, it was at that time that I was talking with a family member who had gone through a similar sit- uation with similar decisions facing her about the future. That’s when are the individual parts of your job
As I struggled with my situation, it was only with the support and guidance of some very close friends and mentors that I could start or the countless hours some spent on the phone with me, each of these touchpoints helped pull me from the spiral of those initial stages. I cannot thank these people enough. (If you’ll allow me a brief digres-
among us who can say we love our jobs or our industries often talk in absolutes and entireties, but if we stop and focus down to the minutia of what we truly love about our roles, we might discover opportunities exist far beyond what we would normally pursue. the next promotion, the next raise, the next title bump, that we put on and we forget to look for opportunities to reshape ourselves. So, as you continue through your path, don’t forget to stop and take stock every you’ll be back to biting the bear in no time. FM
Adam Cook is the Executive Director of Operations for Seafair, in Seattle, Wash- ington. He graduated from Bowdoin College, home of the Polar Bears.
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