What Our Limitations Teach Us

It's been the kind of week/month/lifetime of thinking about leadership and the competing directives that come into the lives of most leaders.  It's been the kind of week/month/lifetime where I feel like I can meet the needs/wants of no one.  Often I can meet the needs/wants of one population at the expense of neglecting the needs/wants of other groups.  For example, I can schedule classes onground, but they may be smaller and thus cost more--so students are happy but higher ups would be happier with students shuttled to online classes or put off indefinitely.

It's been the kind of week where I think about the skills I lack.  If I had gone to Business school, I might have a different perspective.  But do I want to have that kind of perspective?

This morning, I came across this essay that reminded me that these kinds of weeks/months/lifetimes can be an opportunity for growth, including spiritual growth:  "Leadership is a spiritual journey for me as I repeatedly bump into my limitations. I’ve learned to see these bumps as invitations to turn to God and grow in awareness and love."

Still, it's hard to know when the limitations are invitations to grow and when the limitations point a different way.  I've been seeing this Facebook meme this week:  "True self-care is not soft baths and chocolate cake.  It is making the choice to build a life you don't need to regularly escape from."

It's been the kind of week where I haven't gotten good sleep or enough sleep.  It's always tough to come back from a retreat, but this week has been particularly grueling.  And it's the end of the term for my online classes--always the end of a marathon feeling too. 

In short, it's been a week where lots of wearying aspects coagulate at once.  I'm looking forward to some downtime this week-end, even though I have lots of grading today.