Recently, while attending a friend’s birthday gathering, I overheard someone say, “Be where your feet are.” The person was applying this in the context of “hey, put your phone down and be present.” I really liked it for multiple reasons and decided I am going to adopt it into my own life.
Today, on New Year’s Eve, I am choosing to be where my feet are – firmly planted in 2023, not worrying about what comes tomorrow. Of course, we can’t always just not worry about what comes next. There is some degree of planning that one has to do – planning for work, planning for a race, planning for your kids, planning for retirement (which I hope to achieve one day!) – but planning is different than being present, at least that’s what this planner is going to tell herself.
As a mom, a runner, an elected official, and a CEO, I am often focused on where I am going. Daily questions in my life include:
How do we make sure we save for the kids’ college and support them in their activities;
What is my next race and how many days and miles do I need to run to reach the goal;
What issues need to be addressed and how can I raise enough money for my next election;
What vision are we working towards in our organization and how can we ensure the team’s success?
But in the words of Bart Yasso, “Running isn’t how far you go, but how far you’ve come.”
True story – in running, leadership, and life.
For me, being where my feet are in 2023, means that I am also reflecting not on how far I am going, but rather on how far I’ve come. In 2023, I did things that I never believed I would accomplish.
As an elected official, I changed the law so law enforcement officers who were killed on their way to work would be honored as fallen in the line of duty (previously this honor was reserved for on-duty officers responding to an incident or off-duty officers on their way to training).
I introduced and passed legislation that protects services for people with disabilities and recently learned that the legislation created a nationwide movement to codify services. Our North Carolina law has become model legislation across the country.
As a CEO, I led a team to break ground on a brand new, state of the art residential facility at TLC for families who need our services.
We traveled as a family on an educational road trip that took us to Gettysburg, Seneca Falls, Niagara Falls, and Toronto.
I ran across the Mackinac Bridge with my dad, and got to take my kids and husband to see a little slice of heaven known as Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
I ran an ultramarathon.
I finished the year traveling more than 2040 miles on my feet, for a total of 4.3 million steps.
I started a website and a blog.
I got to meet my favorite comedian, Nate Bargatze.
I am watching my children grow into amazing young women, filled with empathy for each other and our community.
Dan and I even got to attend a party at the Vice President’s Residence.
None of the above is mine alone. Everything that I have achieved belongs to an amazing network of people – all of the individuals who put their trust in me over a year ago and helped to elect me to serve in the NC House of Representatives; the professionals who helped me to know how laws should change; my colleagues who joined me in helping to advance legislation forward; my incredible team of coworkers, board members, and our construction team who have been with me every step of the way for our new building (and many other things at TLC); my friends who ran with me and reminded me why I was running in the first place; my sports therapist who ensured my legs stayed in good shape throughout training; and my deeply supportive family who stands with me in all my endeavors, makes deep sacrifices and shares me willingly and without complaint to live my personal mission in service.
I know that the above sounds like the year for us has been full of rainbows and butterflies. That isn’t true either. There has been anxiety and doubt as I have worried about our financial future with two girls for whom we want to hang the moon. There has been some yelling – we have one teenager and one nearly teenager, and two incredibly passionate type A adults leading the household – okay, maybe a lot of yelling. I have reached an age that the internet calls “mature” – which just means that I am experiencing the beginnings of hot flashes, unexplained and irrational rage, and when I look in the mirror, most days I just think I look old. There have been very difficult decisions to make at work about positions and programs in the best interest of TLC. There have been some VERY hard and defeating days at the legislature. And I have friends who have experienced incredible loss and have immeasurable grief, who for them, I am sure being where their feet are means getting to the end of 2023 as quickly as possible in hopes of a better year ahead.
I don’t know what comes next – nobody does. But today, on this last day of 2023, I am choosing to be where my feet are and for once, to not run as fast as I can to the next thing.