When the Tide Turns, Who Will You Be?

The tides of change don’t always wait for permission.

Some of us seek change with open arms.

Some beg for it when it’s long overdue.

Some resist it, gripping what’s familiar with everything we’ve got.

And sometimes — change finds us anyway.

Uninvited. Inconvenient. Inevitable.

We meet it in different ways.

With clarity, or with clenched fists.

With quiet courage, or with a voice we barely recognize as our own. Sometimes with gumption and gravitas. 

I’ve stood in all those places.

Sometimes, we lead through the change — steady, trusted, visible.

Other times, the floor moves beneath us and the title shifts or fades.

One moment you’re holding the room. The next, you’re holding your breath.

And still — somewhere in all of it — there’s usually a flicker.

A conversation that softens the fear.

A moment of stillness that feels more like a beginning than an ending.

A glimpse of the self beneath the role, uniform, or name-tag.

That flicker? It matters.

Because leadership isn’t a badge.

It’s a way of being — an inner identity that we can choose to return to — over and over again, even when the world reshuffles around us.

The tides, the winds, the seasons — they come and go.

And with them, we’re invited to shift too.

Not always with certainty.

But with presence. With depth.

With the quiet knowing that even when the map disappears, you’re still moving toward something true.

Titles change. Roles evolve.

But your way of leading — with clarity, with care, with courage — doesn’t vanish with the job description.

And sometimes, what feels like an ending

is a return to what’s most essential in you.

Not lost. Not less.

Just ready for what’s next.

If you are finding yourself in a phase of change. Hang in there. You’ve got this and your community has got you as well.