Perspective

As is often the case in life, today was spent making sense of yesterday.
When I was asked to Chair our association I knew it carried a risk, failure to turn it around had the potential to do a lot of reputational damage. I knew it was a difficult job.
Yesterday old tensions collided with new ways of thinking, good intentions were expressed in the very worst of ways, it felt like a step backwards, proof that not all the faultlines have been strengthened.
A collection of mountaineers is often used as an example of teamwork, but in reality it's usually a group of very very strongly indépendant individuals working (hopefully) towards a common goal.
This year, my decripitude and exceptionally low boredom threshold, as well as my near pathological urge to fix things, has meant I've taken a lot on myself, allowed others to slide, but known the job would get done, and I've knowingly let the team be the public face of that. Yesterday I came close to thinking I'd made some wrong choices.

Then today I found my notes for the speech I gave when elected. The things I stood up in front of my peers and said we'd do... and I realised with a smile that three years on, as our Annual Conference approaches, I've delivered nearly all of it - governance installed, partnerships rebuilt, alliances forged, habits.... changing.

Then I saw a butterfly and smiled.