The Conversation We'd Rather Not Have, But Must

In memory of my fallen Southwest Florida comrades.

It took a bit more time getting out of bed that Saturday morning after Hurricane Ian wield its destructive path through Florida. I had just had a conversation with a very close friend of mine. I had called because I wanted to know how she fared during the passing of Ian and to get a gauge regarding damages sustained since we both live in close proximity to each other. It was not long before I realized that, though we were both speaking, we were having two separate conversations. I had to pause our exchange and have her explain in details what exactly she was talking about. Turns out her husband had had a massive heart attack a week before the hurricane hit. I had no idea. Thank God he survived!

Discussing death is one of those conversations we would rather not have.

I spent the past two weeks glued to my television and my cell phone every chance I could get to keep tabs on the latest news report coming out of my home state of Florida. Whether one dubs it serendipity, chance, luck, or grace, it just so happened that both my husband and I were away from our home located on the south-west coast of Florida, 40 minutes north of Naples and 23 miles east of Fort Myers Beach, when disaster struck.

The pictures coming out and the stories being told in the wake of Ian are absolutely gut-wrenching. Homes torn apart, boats and yachts tossed on land like rag dolls, entire neighborhoods wiped out, businesses gutted, landscapes and coastal lines irrevocably altered, locations where it should not be inundated by water, lives and livelihoods lost forever.

As I dragged myself out of bed that morning, a few thoughts persistently reverberated in my head. It is customary to think about securing wills and doing estate planning, as well as thinking of having substantial insurance to cover final expenses and leaving a comfortable cushion for those we will leave behind. But on this morning, there were weightier matters on my mind.

Are all the things I am pursuing and giving my life, my time, my energy, my effort, and my resources to really worth it? Am I doing the things that matter most?

Am I really working diligently to fulfill purpose; to positively impact the lives of others, to help make their lives better, to leave a legacy worth expanding after I die?

Are my motives right? Do I do what I do merely to be seen of men, to garner their admiration and accolades? Or am I doing what I do because I am compelled by something deeper, greater and more meaningful?

I wondered about my fallen fellow Floridians and what went through their minds as they stood face to face with eternity. I wondered about those who lost everything and what, at that pivotal moment, was the thing they wished if they had the power to retain, they would.

I do not know about you, but moments like these are the moments I choose to pause long enough to ponder and assess where I am in the grand scheme of things and whether my trajectory is on course to my pre-determined and anticipated destination. We all should want our lives to count. Though the pathway we take is distinct and unique to each of us, the end goal is ultimately the same.

So permit me to ask, where are you? Not your physical or geographical location. Where are you philosophically, existentially, even spiritually? Are you truly where you want to be, doing what you want to do, with the people you want to do it with? Are you intentionally engaging the life you want, or are you living on auto-pilot mode and moving with the masses because of a dominant narrative?

And when you come face to face with eternity, as is the path of all humans, will you be satisfied? Will you be at rest?

"You learn something out of everything, and you come to realize more than ever that we're all here for a certain space of time, and, and then it's going to be over, and you better make this count" - Nancy Reagan

Georgia A. Bryce-Hutchinson?is an accomplished Mental Health Consultant and Practitioner, who leverages an Environmental Engineering background to set the framework, language, and impact of coaching across corporate and one-on-one environments. She specializes in advising organizations and employees on mental health literacy, awareness, and crisis intervention and devising preventative strategies to increase workforce productivity, engagement, and retention. Georgia has the ability to meet employees and people where they are in their lives, pivoting to?support both the employee and the organization from an inside-out approach.?Connect with Georgia at?[email protected].