I believe most of us are experiencing some form of the anxiety that exists when so many aspects of our lives have undergone changes and we are not yet comfortable with the consequences of those shifts. We have navigated through the terror of the early stages of the pandemic, moved into the painstakingly slow period of determining how to defeat the pandemic, suspended our normal business instincts as the economic toll continues to wreck its way and upend assumptions about timelines and returns to ‘normal.’
But we can only suspend our inclinations to move ahead for so long: whether you are an industry trailblazer or a self-confident young professional, we are past time of thinking it prudent to wait and see how things evolve. There are risks in moving too fast, of course – but risks in not moving fast enough, as well. How to resolve those tensions?
As a communications consulting firm, we are busy developing plans to help our clients advance their narratives and their objectives, taking into account as effectively as we can how context and appetites have shifted. Monitoring both perceptions and impacts – and being prepared to nimbly adapt and modify plans – seems more important than ever, so we have incorporated those disciplines deeper into our work with increased sophistication.
But personally I can’t seem to shake the sensation that I am on the cusp of…something. And having just past my birthday, referencing ‘the cusp’ reminded me that I am one of those people born IN the cusp of two astrological signs – Aquarius and Pisces, or the Cusp of Sensitivity. While I confess that my awareness of things astrological is only superficial (I usually read the horoscope column on Sundays), I am open these days to new possibilities for inspiration, as we all should be, I am thinking.
So I have done a bit of research related to being ‘on the cusp.’ In western astrology, there are twelve signs representing the dozen constellations that our sun travels through over twelve months. The cusps are those times when the sun is transitioning from passage through one constellation to the next. Makes sense. The precision of those passages and how they relate to our calendar or to our personalities are, of course, the stuff of tarot card readers and mystics. I’m not going to go too far down that path. But I confess that I am intrigued about the dynamics of being caught between two constellations…or two paradigms…or perhaps the transition from pre-COVID 19 to post-COVID 19.
I’m less interested in how my personality traits map across the transition (FYI, my sign suggests I am creative, but prone to a lack of organization: the words ‘offbeat and eccentric’ were used). More important, I think, is the perception that energy really is moving around us differently in this time of being ‘on the cusp.’ I do strongly believe that energy is an important part of our context collectively: Is there energy in the marketplace for innovation (i.e. increased risk-taking)? Is there energy in communities for recovering bi-partisan efforts? Is there sufficient energy being expended on solutions to the economic equity challenges laid bare by the pandemic?
And energy is also, of course, a life-giving resource that each of us has personal responsibility to manage: where is my energy going? Is my energy positively oriented or stuck in negative orientations that I’ve got to reverse?
We’re in this cusp of something together. What’s your sign?