Am I strong enough to bring the “Independence of Solitude” into the workplace?
Tapping into the wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson to help maintain authenticity in the workplace.
For years when I worked at a state government agency I had the following Ralph Waldo Emerson quote taped to the bottom of my computer monitor:
“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude”
I am an introvert. I am most comfortable by myself. I have spent much of my life, both as a child and an adult, feeling intimidated by the world.
I liked the idea of “the independence of solitude”, but not much for being “in the midst of the crowd…”
This last year has been such a powerful time of discovery. I quit my job and used the time to really work on myself, to journey externally and internally. It has very much felt like an apprenticeship, but I’m not entirely sure for what. Maybe eldership (I’ll be 53 this summer).
Here are some of the pieces I wrote about my experiences:
Things I learned about myself on a month-long 5,000-mile road trip Part 1 and Part 2
Check-in halfway through my midlife process year
The last 12 months have been so big that I began worrying about my ability to take what I have learned and experienced and bring it into normal, everyday work life.
Even before quitting my job I struggled to connect with people in the office. I felt it could be a bigger challenge to bring what felt like an expanded, more authentic, more vulnerable spirit back into the type of workplace I left behind a year ago.
Recently, I went to Costa Rica to attend a retreat to work with the plant medicine iboga. I viewed it as my last big adventure before starting my job search. Here is a very brief overview of iboga from Modern Ancient.
